BlackBird Print

For over two decades I have been exploring visual expression through illustration and painting. My work today is informed by my professional training as an illustrator and moves between figurative expression and semi-abstraction as I explore the world around me and more particularly, the emotions and atmosphere it engenders. The last few years have been a prolific period of creation, born of sequence of dramatic life changes and resulting in a body of work that aims to visually articulate the intensity of this period. My illustrative figurative paintings are small and intimate, and explore deeply the themes of my interior life. The recurring symbolism of birds & leaves, buildings, windows and teacups signify change, loss and challenges of that time. Here I explore ideas of freedom and confinement, beauty and decay, comfort and sorrow. The rich landscape works express a period of transition, physically, emotionally and mentally. They were inspired by long walks around Kurnell in Sydneys south east where the beauty and grandeur of weather beaten rocks and ancient worn sandstone cliffs emphasise the organic nature of life, survival and beauty The larger scale of these works suggests a move from an interior to a more external world view. The colourful, organic, cellular and at times childlike expressions in my third series captures the blue of sky, brown of earth, green of surrounds. These works are a celebration of life and my new environment by the coast reflecting abundance and the deep beauty within us and around us. Revelling in life, nature and worldly mystery, this work reflects my belief that every living thing past or present is always part of our universe. I use a range of media to create. Oils, pastels, acrylics, charcoals, wallpaper, gels and inks are variously applied in a process that reveals itself over time. The layers of paint, washing off, scrubbing back, sandpapering, adding, subtracting, and painting over are in some ways reminiscent of the way life too conceals and reveals itself.