For me, art has been a personal journey and I have evolved through many facets of creativity, depending on the circumstances at the time. I trained as a secondary art and textile teacher and majored in printmaking. After leaving teaching, I continued with painting, drawing and several forms of textile art. I attended watercolour classes with Margaret Metcalf for a few years in Melbourne. We later moved to Benalla and I was able to attend further classes with her which she conducted at the Benalla Art Gallery.
When we returned to Melbourne I studied Chinese brush painting for 8 years, a very disciplined and exacting art form, and participated in 3 exhibitions at Guangzhau, Zhaoquing University and Kunming in China.
Chinese brush painting uses ink and watercolour, so it was easy for me to transition back to watercolour painting and I joined the Victorian Watercolour Society, with whom I have exhibited numerous times in the Kenneth Jack Memorial Art Show, meeting some fabulous like-minded artists. I am still a member of the Victorian Society.
My return to watercolour provided the opportunity for me to attend classes conducted by well-respected Victorian watercolourists, Vivi Palegeorge and Annee Kelly, over a number of years before moving to WA, both of whom I am still in contact.
We moved to Western Australia in 2015, and I joined the West Australian Watercolour Society and have exhibited frequently in their Annual Awards Exhibitions and twice in their International Watercolour Exhibition in Fremantle.
The landscape is my inspiration and I am an observer and recorder of my incredible surroundings – not a realistic interpretation, but a capturing of its form, rich colours and vast horizons, using watercolour, oil and acrylic.
With a caravan as a portable studio, I travelled through the Pilbara and the Goldfields in 2016; then in 2018 through the Kimberley, across the top, Alice Springs, East and West McDonnell Ranges and the Flinders Ranges. Both trips provided amazing experiences with many artistic challenges.
In 2020 I completed a printmaking course at the Margaret River TAFE run by Kay Gibson, and am now combining printmaking with watercolour and enjoying experimenting with different processes. I am now a member of the South West Printmakers.