A
rt was always a favourite subject
at school, which led me to
study art fulltime in Australia.
I attended Claremont School of Art in
Perth, Western Australia in the early
90s and graduated after three years,
majoring in Sculpture. It was a lifetime
ago and a valuable experience, fraught
with all the learning curves of youth of
course, but definitely provided a solid
base to build on, and great memories.
After Art school in my 20s I meandered
through the creative process a bit,
mostly in a sleep deprived fog, due to
the addition of a husband and children.
I always tried to keep my hand in while
running a busy household and raising
a family and continued to exhibit in
Australia and in New Zealand, but it is
only now that two out of three of my
children are out into the world and
doing their own thing, and my husband
has miraculously morphed into a
fulltime Picture Framer, that I have the
opportunity to really work as a fulltime
artist. It has somehow, blissfully, become
my job.
The thing I love most about being
an artist is the light bulb moments
after a struggle. Sometimes getting to
the end of a piece is like pulling teeth
and it doesn’t always flow the way you
intended. Other times it comes together
fast and seamlessly. Occasionally you
have an overwhelming desire to put
your foot through it, stamp on it, light it
up and burn it, but it is often also at this
hideous point that a discovery is made
and a work is retrieved from the brink.
‘After the Show’. Acrylic on canvas - 1020 x 760mm. That is really kind of exciting to me.
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t make art. It has been with me from the
beginning. One of my earliest memories of being given an opportunity to paint
was on my first day at kindergarten. It was a momentous discovery at the time
for me and I didn’t want to do anything else.