Things I’ve Learned

At the Head of the Waterfall

2021, Oil on canvas, 50cm h x 40cm w

This painting was inspired by a weekend retreat I went on with my daughter. I had been keen to try plant medicines and was thrilled to experience this life changing event with her.

The painting, At the Head of the Waterfall, shows one of the gorgeous views from the Theosophical Centre where the retreat took place, surrounded by cultivated gardens and wild nature.

My experience with the plant medicine was not what I hoped. I think the vast majority of people have a deeply life-changing experience. I felt like I drank poison. I tried a couple of times but was just left wondering why I was deliberately making myself sick. That’s not to say I didn’t learn anything. Just having the experience can teach you that perhaps that’s not the way for you to move forward.

All that is to say that you can never know in advance what you’re going to learn from an experience.

I sent out a survey a few weeks back and, although I didn’t really know what I would learn from it, it was great to get the feedback, so thanks to everyone that replied.

One of the surprising things was that people weren’t just interested in my successes as an artist - in fact, not one person said that’s all they wanted to hear about. Most people wanted to hear more about the struggles - a balance of both the highs and lows.

I have to admit that, although it’s always been my intention to communicate the struggles of being an artist, it does put me in a vulnerable place. Who wants to admit that it’s pretty hard sometimes, that you don’t always get the feedback or validation or prizes or sales that you would love?

I don’t think I’m alone as an artist in doubting myself. But when it happens, you do feel very alone. Picking yourself back up, dealing with disappointments and setbacks, validating yourself, encouraging yourself, persisting - they’re all things that you have to learn, not only in art, but in life.

If you’d like to do the survey, you can access it here

Hi there,

Hi to friends and collectors, old and new,

New blog on the new website. Another new thing to master.

This has been quite the couple of years. Like a lot of people throughout Covid I re-examined where I was and where I was headed.

I have had a rollercoaster life since about 2012 when I decided to really step up with my art. Although I’d been making art since at least 1990 and had sold some works and even got into some competitions, in around 2010 things really started coming together for me. I had been selected for some major competitions, including the Shirley Hannan and Portia Geach portrait prizes and I’d been accepted into the industry association, Portrait Artists Australia. It took a couple more years before I made some of the most momentous decisions of my life.

I sold my house, quit my job and moved towns to go to TAFE full time for a year. The following year I started a three year Fine Arts degree at the National Art School, Sydney. I was then accepted for a long term artist residency at Dunmoochin, Victoria, where I lived and worked for nearly three years before throwing my last little bit of savings at the cheapest house I could find within five hours of Sydney. I lived in Batlow in the Snowy Mountains for almost two years until the fires and Covid hit and then I sold up and came back to the South Coast. Over the last two years I’ve done more courses on art and marketing, and spent a lot of time drilling down on what kind of art I want to make and what it’s all about.

Always, my main priority has been trying to find time, money and space to continue making art. Sometimes it’s been a real struggle to access all or any of these resources and I have had a few times where I’ve thought I just can’t keep going.

Yet I do, partly through the support of friends and collectors and partly because I just can’t envision what my life would be like if I wasn’t creating.

I know some people’s dreams involve overseas travel or bungee jumping, but my dream is to live the life I want, creating art. That might not seem too exciting to someone else, but it’s been a complete adventure for me, involving all kinds of emotional highs and lows, managing on a shoestring and Austudy, living in places I couldn’t have dreamed of and meeting amazing people.

I love the quote by Helen Keller, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”

I continue to live this amazing adventure, with hard work, part time jobs and the support of my collectors.

If you’d like to follow along, you can sign up to get these blogs and any special news or offers through a newsletter you can sign up by clicking on the contact button below, or if you’ve got any questions or you’d just like to shoot me a hello you can use the contact form as well.