05:0./;I
’ve lived most of my life in the
small mining town, of Charters
Towers, Queensland, where, as a
child, I often prospected for gold and
fished on the coast with my family.
My love of art came early; often I
watched my mother’s craft group
dabble for hours in their different
crafts. I drew, just for the love of it,
often losing hours of the day, mainly
drawing lots of birds, fish and horses
and other animals.
I continued my love of art as a
subject in high school, often only
just touching on various styles and
mediums, (screen printing, charcoal,
lino prints, and pastels, but never
really finding what I had a passion
for. I went from high school straight
into working, doing all sorts of jobs,
mainly as a domestic, kitchen hand/
cook, cleaner for private schools
and a nursing home. My art changed
after I left high school, from all
things colourful, to drawing positive
and negative images, mainly of
tattoo designs.
Upon meeting my husband and
buying our first home together, I found
a new obsession. Renovating! It was
a great creative outlet for me whilst
having my family. But after 10 years
of renovating, working and raising my
children, it had left me yearning to do
something more art orientated again. A
friend of mine suggested I try a TAFE
course, so I signed up in 2011.
We started by learning water
colour painting. This helped me
understand how to establish and
build upon a painting, and then we
went straight into acrylics. Back to
all things colourful again! I think
I was mortified the day our TAFE
teacher Noel Mason handed me my
first blank canvas. I didn’t have
a clue where to start. Noel was
extremely helpful and encouraging,
nurturing everyone’s individual style
and development with ease. We also
attended drawing classes with Denise
Weightman, covering perspective
drawing, tonal scales and use of
repetitive lines, amongst other topics.
LandscapeCrayfishLeaves