I always loved art as a child, my grandad painted, he studied at the Louvre, in Paris ( he wasn't an artist by profession but a psychiatrist). His work, on the walls of my grandma's house, filled me with awe. They were emotive paintings of sad children and dogs and beautiful nudes with flowing robes. They had statues too, big ones, taller than me, then, of cherubs with bows and arrows. One day I will have a statue like that to take me back to those times. I wasn't the most talented of his offspring and I never met my grandfather, other than as a babe in arms. My cousin Tina was wonderfully talented and her younger sister (Jean) was better than me too, but I loved it and needed the escape more, I suppose, because I had lost my father when was young and needed a place, a place away from reality.
I am driven to create, I remember painting a picture once ( during my impoverished late teens) with boot-polish and a hair brush because that was all I had.
I began my art studies at Perth Technical Collage and managed a Cerificate in Fine Arts before having to leave to raise a family. I didn't return to art until they were all grown but I did manage a couple of postal courses in Art History, watercolors and Interior Design. For a while I was a member of The Interior Designers of Australia and taught it at the Technical College. By chance I went to the opening of a local gallery and was so taken with the artists Work that I hunted her down via the phone book. She invited me up and I not only bought two of her paintings but learnt of the existence of workshops where you could learn from a range of tutors without having to live in a major city.
From then on I was determined to learn all I could, one of my first classes was with Judith White (Judith has won over a dozen major awards including the Mosman Art Prize twice, the Margaret Fesq Memorial Art Prize twice, the Manly Daily Art Prize, the Maitland Art Prize and in 2004 the Fleurieu Peninsula McLaren Vale Prize.)
and I drove for a couple of days to get there. She introduced me to shellac and bitumen and monoprints and I haven't looked back. I will try anything! Give it a go and see what happens is my motto now! Between the University of Southern Queensland and the Cooee Bay (QLD) Art Camps, I have had the good fortune to work closely with a number of successful artists and have taken from them much inspiration and instruction.
I am driven to create, I remember painting a picture once ( during my impoverished late teens) with boot-polish and a hair brush because that was all I had.
I began my art studies at Perth Technical Collage and managed a Cerificate in Fine Arts before having to leave to raise a family. I didn't return to art until they were all grown but I did manage a couple of postal courses in Art History, watercolors and Interior Design. For a while I was a member of The Interior Designers of Australia and taught it at the Technical College. By chance I went to the opening of a local gallery and was so taken with the artists Work that I hunted her down via the phone book. She invited me up and I not only bought two of her paintings but learnt of the existence of workshops where you could learn from a range of tutors without having to live in a major city.
From then on I was determined to learn all I could, one of my first classes was with Judith White (Judith has won over a dozen major awards including the Mosman Art Prize twice, the Margaret Fesq Memorial Art Prize twice, the Manly Daily Art Prize, the Maitland Art Prize and in 2004 the Fleurieu Peninsula McLaren Vale Prize.)
and I drove for a couple of days to get there. She introduced me to shellac and bitumen and monoprints and I haven't looked back. I will try anything! Give it a go and see what happens is my motto now! Between the University of Southern Queensland and the Cooee Bay (QLD) Art Camps, I have had the good fortune to work closely with a number of successful artists and have taken from them much inspiration and instruction.
