"The burning bridge will light the way (I)" Painting

Born in South Africa, I immigrated to Canada in the 1990’s eventually finding my home in Tofino on Vancouver Island 10 years ago … a place where my heart has come alive and my creative expression lit on fire. My creative process is influenced greatly by my relationship with my Coastal surroundings, gathering an abundance of inspiration from the rich, vibrant and wild energy of the ocean, moon and rainforest. My Oceanic and Botanical mixed media paintings reflect the overall essence of these powerful elements in an expressive way that captures movement, light, patterns and texture then reworking them into dream like visions. A translation of West Coast magic through abstraction. With fascination I follow the changing light of the moon, the rhythm of ocean tides, the balance between lightness and darkness from season to season, as well as the accompanying process of bloom to decay. Chasing light and shadows, finding reflections and unraveling layers of time. I have been a creator my entire life. I don’t recall a defining moment of choosing art or becoming an artist. The only factor that led me to this point is that I never stopped making. My desire to create in prolific proportions propelled me on this wild, explorative, experimental, expressive journey that continues to unfold in all its rawness and wonder. Creative expression has been my constant source of healing, learning, evolving, story telling, and digging deeper into the discovery of self as well as our individual and collective deep connection to our natural surroundings. I work with a variety of materials including canvas, wood and paper. Acrylics, inks and natural pigments. In most of my creations one can find deep base textures, many layers of pigment, copper and gold leafing and high gloss finishes. I also enjoy working in a wide ranging scale from small works on paper to works on canvas larger than myself.