Oil on Linen 112cm x 168cm

I’m a painter living and working in South Gippsland.  I previously worked in Melbourne as an Artist, Painting Tutor, Gallery Director, Curator and Arts Festival Producer.  I have a long association with Gippsland with my forebears farming Stony Creek in the late 1800’s and my Grandparents and Uncle continuing the tradition in Fish Creek. While most of my life was spent in the city, South Gippsland was always my joyous school holiday playground.  So, I made the move.

Gippsland has such diverse topography, ecology and microclimates so I’m never lost for inspiration.  Ancient rainforests, mountains, waterfalls, lakes and wild coastlines all seduce the artist’s eye.

  As a landscape painter my practice always begins in the field where my mind stops and my eyes open.  It can be challenging in windy Gippsland but it’s essential for bringing knowledge and integrity to my work.  Immersed in the elements, my brushes struggle to keep pace with wild weather, subtle colour shifts, incredible atmospheres and overwhelming beauty. Nature does all the work for me with her perfect compositions and colour harmonies. I mix all colour from primaries and find a wonderful rhythm pushing and pulling hues trying to harness her truth.  I’m attuned to the astounding seasonal colours of golds, greens, pinks and lilacs all glowing amongst the many neutral greys. 

 I’ve been painting Wilsons Promontory for the past twenty years and living just 15 minutes away, I can rush down when I see dramatic conditions.  Winter and Autumn are my favourite seasons when the light is soft, the skies perform miracles and mosses, fungi and wildflowers appear.  There’s an inimitable energy in the field studies, they capture the true spirit of the experience. My heart still jumps as I enter The Prom.

 Sometimes painting vast panoramas, I imagine how incredible this country and its people would have looked before colonisation.  But my joy is punctuated by sadness remembering the dark histories which lay just beneath the ground.  This place is so much more than just “a beauty spot”.

 During the Melbourne lockdown I was often the only visitor to the Prom.   Still and silent, I’m surrounded by animals and only the sounds of frogs, birds and the wind.  A gentle mist dampens my watercolour paper, Nature, my trusted collaborator.  My brushes are incidental when I’m transfixed by exquisite tiny details engulfed in massive mountains and thunderous clouds.  My practice is a reason to be still, observing these wonders in soft fascination, and the hundreds of field studies serve as a diary of my very privileged life.

 Historically there is a profound link between Naturalism, Spiritualism, Transcendentalism, and Religion. Naturalists like John Muir and Henry Thoreau experienced ecstasy in the natural world which they claimed brought them closer to God. Solitary painting under vast skies can be divinely intimidating; nature is wondrous and forceful.  My work harks to The Romantics’ notions of The Sublime, Awe and Delight.  Their push against profit driven factory systems degrading our natural world is most pertinent today.

 Back in my studio the studies are flung across the floor and pinned to walls informing large scale, pared back oil paintings.  The studio activity is slow and considered, all about the mysterious alchemy of paint and the act of painting in its own right.  Paintings are worked and re-worked (and re-worked!) in thin layers over months and sometimes years.  Much detail is removed to reveal only a whispered remnant of my vigorous, glorious landscape experience.

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