ART JOURNEY

From an early age I have been drawing, painting and creating. Growing up on a small dairy/pineapple farm south of Gympie, Noosa wasn't far away, so we visited and holidayed there regularly. This combination of country and beach upbringing inspired a love of nature which is evident in many of my paintings.

I started painting more seriously after my first child was born. Dedication to this endeavour while the children were young was challenging!!! So I decided to delay painting until my children started school. By coincidence my long awaited first art lesson was the day my youngest child started school. Leaving other mothers crying at the school gate.... I was off to my first art class!

At the time, we were living in Gordonvale near Cairns and cyclone Winifred had hit the region the day before. But nothing was going to stop me. I had waited far too long for this moment! I dodged powerline repairmen, fallen trees and other debris on the 30km trek to get to the lesson with well-known FNQ artist Joy Stewart in Cairns needless to say she was very surprised to see me!

Over the next ten years or so we lived in several different locations due to my husband's transferable job. In between working and raising children I took art classes and workshops at every opportunity.

This broadened my artistic knowledge and skills in many mediums and techniques. It wasn't until the early 1990's, after taking a watercolour class, that I immediately fell in love with this medium; in particular the wet-in-wet technique with its challenges and unpredictablity.

By the late 1990's we had settled in Brisbane where I was able to further my watercolour skills by attending regular classes and workshops. Having started to sell more and more paintings, I decided to leave the workforce to devote more time developing my painting career.

Since then I have won many awards. In 2006 I was asked to teach watercolour classes at Royal Queensland Art Society Brisbane. Also that year I held my first, and very successful, solo art exhibition at the Royal Queensland Art Society Gallery.

Later that year I was fortunate to be invited to take part in the Hamilton Island Gallery's artist in residence program. Over the next 10 years of participating in this program I held numerous exhibitions and countless classes. Through the Hamilton Island Gallery and various other galleries my paintings are now held in private collections in Australia and overseas. I no longer run watercolour workshops or classes, instead I concentrate on my painting.