Growing up in the bush of Central Victoria in Yellow Gum and Ironbark country, I became a bird watcher from an early age. I had always enjoyed drawing during my teenage years, and this later led to painting with watercolours. My early employment as a design draftsman had a strong influence on my painting style and contributed to developing my natural awareness of detail in the subjects I chose to paint. In my earlier adult years bird photography dominated my creative output, and painting took a back seat until about 1993. Since then, I have produced mostly watercolours of birds, landscapes, and portraits. Drawing activity has been directed mostly towards preparatory work for production of paintings. Once I retired, I began to paint full time along with managing our prints and greeting cards business- Red-tailed Bird Art from around 2017.
The bushland of southern WA has provided plenty of subject material for both landscape and wildlife paintings. My landscapes mostly feature the regional forests, farmlands, and bush trails of the southwest.
Reference material for paintings still includes photographs and field sketches as well as the occasional bird skin. My landscapes and portraits are normally painted on Arches 300gsm Hot Pressed Paper using the finest professional watercolours and brushes that are currently available in the world. All framing is undertaken by professional picture framers to the highest (archival) standards.
Since 2017, a range of our most popular paintings have been published as Limited-Edition Prints.
We operate a private Art studio in Margaret River, and my works are on display at Aspects of Kings Park, Perth and Mukau Gallery, Cowaramup.
Awards
• 2018 “Biology As Art” Head of School & People’s Choice Award University of Western Australia
• 2018 Australian Wildlife Artists- Highly Commended
• First prize Harvey Art Show (Landscape painting)
• First Prize Pinjarra Art Show (Landscape painting)
• Highly Commended- Wildlife Artists Society of Australia 2015
• Highly Commended Watercolour Society of WA
Galleries:
Currently:
• Aspects of Kings Park since February 2017
• Mukau Gallery, Cowaramup since 2019
Exhibitions
Artist in Residence 2017 at Aspects of Kings Park Spring Festival
Margaret River Region Open Studio 2015-2026
Personal Collections
Over the past twenty years or so, I have developed a personal following within Western Australia, interstate and overseas (UK, USA, Canada, France Taiwan, Singapore).