Australia’s beauty, colour and detail.

There’s an abundance of life and energy in Australian nature. Native plants and flowers have intricacies that attract my close and careful examination. Birds and other creatures can be hard to find and are fast to move, making it challenging and rewarding to study them closely. By painting what I encounter I pursue beauty, explore deep emotions and make connections between the heart and mind inside me, and the changing world around me.

Background

I was born in Albury, New South Wales, Australia. I moved around eastern Australia during my childhood in the 80s and 90s, also living in Wollongong, Inverell, Goulburn and Canberra. I grew up in quiet places surrounded by nature where I spent plenty of time, often alone, quietly observing and imagining. Over time I developed a habit of looking into the immediate environment for anything that’s moving, different or out of place. From searching for crabs in coastal rockpools to looking up and down gumtrees for abandoned cicada shells, I’ve always been looking for those things that are special. A part of this habit was about looking for danger (snakes and spiders are everywhere) but more often about spotting things of interest that delight me, such as wombat burrows, rare flowers or a bird squawking up in the canopy.

I’ve never had a strength in verbal communication and my first real voice came through creative writing which I studied at the University of Canberra. After graduation I moved to Melbourne and soon discovered a more intuitive and enjoyable form of expression in visual art and design. 

Now I capture and share the natural beauty I find through paintings and this helps me understand my life and existence. 

Exhibitions and Activities

Solo exhibitions

Upcoming

2021 Title to be announced, City Library, Melbourne, Australia

Past

2020 Encounters with Australian Nature, Virtual Gallery

2018 Bird of Paradise, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

2018 Watercolours, Umberto Espresso Restaurant, Melbourne, Australia

2016 Comfort Food on Comfort Clothes, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

2015 Flowers Drowning, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

2015 Finding Flowers in Human Cities, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

2014 Too Big to See, Too Small to Miss, 99 Art Musuem, Beijing, China

Group exhibitions

Upcoming and current

2020-21 9 by 5 Exhibition, Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre, Dandenong, Australia

2021 Royal Children’s Hospital 150th Anniversary Art Trail, Melbourne, Australia

Past

2020 State of Disaster, Melbourne, Australia

2018 Toorak Art Walk, Toorak Road, Melbourne, Australia

2018 Australasia Now, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

2017 Petite Worlds, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

2017 Painting, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

2016 Toorak Art Walk, Toorak Road, Melbourne, Australia

2016 Art in Space, Frankston Art Centre, Frankston, Australia

2015 Utopia for Spur Afrika, Amora Riverwalk Hotel, Melbourne, Australia

2015 Imago Mundi, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy

2015 New Surrealists, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

2015 Port Phillip Street Gallery, Bay Street, Melbourne, Australia

2014 Near and Far, 99 Art Museum, Beijing, China

2014 International Youth Salon, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China

Other activities

2017 Rimbun Dahan Artist Residency, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2016 The World Is So Large, I Want To See It. Information session: Why apply for artist residency programs? Bee Bookstore, Beijing, China

2014 Dong Dong and Lu Lu, Arts residency program, Beijing, China

2014 Dong Dong and Lu Lu, Arts residency program, Nanjing, China