My journey into pastel and ink artistry began with a plein air workshop at Wild Dog Hill near Whyalla, guided by South Australian landscape artist Ken Orchard, when I was around 31 years old. Ken’s support and encouragement ignited my passion and I’ve been making art ever since, with stops and starts. Frustration with one’s creative efforts and failures, self-defeat and life gets in the way…but making art is a need I cannot quit. Having previously dedicated myself to working in community and regional arts, it took me a while to recognise my own creative needs amidst helping others in their artistic pursuits. This path has been long, and there’s still much ground to cover….and along that path I discovered gouache, and this medium is my go-to, always. It suits my method of making. I don’t merely visually record what I see, I respond to the space through gestural mark making, memory, and intuition. I collect shapes, landmarks, colours, and as the mind is a mishmash of thoughts, this is how my landscapes forms. Hidden amongst it all are stories, sketched out by buildings, significant places and tiny figures of people from that time. Ultimately it bears the hallmarks of the region…but it is my way of deconstructing my personal experiences of place.
Roller Blinds
Working on a repurposed house blind aligns with my ideas of sustainability and my interest in found materials, offering a unique way to explore themes of landscape and conservation. It’s also highly practical: I enjoy working on a large scale, and this format makes my work easier to transport.
Painting on the blind also adds a symbolic dimension: pulling a blind down over a landscape suggests the ways we sometimes shield ourselves from nature, almost as if we’re closing ourselves off from its significance. It serves as a metaphor for what we choose to overlook, inviting viewers to consider both what lies concealed behind the barrier and what we project onto it.
Winner of the Pastel Section, Scone Art Prize 2022
