Artist Statement

My principal mediums are oil and acrylic paint, pastel and printmaking.

The subject matter is mainly a direct response to my environment, specifically  to the colour, patterns, texture and sensual linear shapes of the landscape. I use photographs, drawings and memory to make studio work which is more the amalgam of remembered experiences than the depiction of a single place.

The series based upon Central Australia has been greatly influenced by time spent at Cooper Pedy and the colours in the beautiful opals mined there and the amazing country that surrounds, and by the time spent as Artist-in-Residence as guest of the Northern Territory Craft Centre based at Alice Springs.

The ochre pits and the spectacular Rainbow Valley visited many times hold an ongoing fascination for me, sandstone weathered by thousands of years of water and wind has formed into the most incredible shapes. The depth and range of colour in these unique shapes has been an on-going force behind this series of work. In the paintings these elements are expressed by both a building up and carving into the surface of the work and overlaying with oil pastel.

My printmaking involves etching on zinc plate to produce a series of hand coloured intaglio monoprints. The collagraphic monoprints are usually produced on hard pressed cardboard in which the surface is built up and carved into, inked up in oil based ink and often then worked over with paint and pastel.