I am a visual artist, and teacher. I live just outside Tamworth, in New South Wales, Australia and I work from a loft studio in our house.

My art focuses unashamedly...

on the feminine, and, while I have not deliberately aimed at this, it seems also to revolve around a romantic  fantasy world of innocent and beautiful young girls and small animals. Recently I have been intently focusing on painting endearing whimsical stylised female figures with sad expressive faces. They seem lost in their own little world and are often in possession of a small ‘treasure’ such as a kitten, rabbit or even toy pirate ships. These ‘treasures’ are reflected in their personal adornment as well. I am moving towards a group of works inspired by fairytale and nursery rhyme narratives, tinged with dark humour and revenge twists. These will be very detailed works in acrylic on canvas and at the moment are appearing as graphite pencil drawings as I develop ideas and imagery. Even more recently my strange little figures have begun appearing as sculptures. I love the freedom of moving between expressive forms and materials to express ideas and develop themes.

I graduated from Alexander Mackie in 1979 with a Bachelor of Art Education. In the 1990's I had success as an embroiderer with a number of group and solo shows and two touring exhibitions through regional galleries in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. My work was featured in Textile Fibre Forum, The Land and Masters of Their Craft, a coffee table book by art historian, Norris Iannou. I have won The Dame Nancy Buttfield Embroidery Prize and The Namoi Valley Cotton Fibre Acquisitive Award. The exhibition tour of embroideries called Revealing Threads led to a $10,000 Australia Council Grant that allowed me to travel to various towns and cities to give workshops. At the end of the 1990's I returned to full time teaching, moved towns and designed and built the house we now live in. I continued to produce artwork but did not pursue exhibition opportunities, due to other commitments.

This year, teaching part time has allowed me to pursue my own creativity with more focus once again.