My Story
How Señor Frog set me on a new career path
In 2019, six months before my 50th birthday, I was moving into a new stage of my life. I was single, I'd left my corporate career, my kids were emerging adults and I'd sold my home. To celebrate my independence I booked myself into a paint and sip class. I'd always wanted to learn how to paint and use colour. I'd drawn and sketched as a kid and in my teens, but I stopped when I left high school, thinking it was a romantic pipe dream, just like my obsession with Hart to Hart (that's a whole other story! And yes, I do own all seasons on DVD 😂 ).
Anyhoo, the paint and sip nights were popular and seemed like a safe environment to learn the basics. I always worried about doing things "right" or "properly"... like how do I get paint out of the tube and onto a palette? What even is a palette?! What can I use for a palette? How do I get paint on to a brush? How do I even use the brush on a canvas? How do I clean the brush in between brushstrokes? I had absolutely NO IDEA!
2 hours later I was hooked! I couldn't wait to get home and keep painting. I had the materials at home as they'd been gifted to me by a friend. I'd always talked about wanting to paint but the fear and uncertainty of what to do froze me into not doing anything at all until the day I painted Señor Frog. That night I went home immensely proud of my frog!!! The next night I laid out my materials on the coffee table, switched on Netflix, modelled what I'd learned in the paint and sip session by squirting some acrylic paints on a plastic plate, rummaged through my box of pretty pictures I'd saved for years and years to find one I wanted to copy as practice and started painting!
I spent many days and nights doing this for the next few months. YouTube became my teacher and I found some art tutorials I regularly followed. I joined a Patreon art membership for more in depth tutorials and live painting sessions.
After a while I started to venture out to paint my own thing and gifted pet portraits and other personal paintings. After 12 months I was itching for more. I wanted to find my own style. I was bored copying other people's stuff. And though I enjoyed pet portraits, I wanted to learn how to paint stories from my head; somehow to represent my thoughts on a canvas.
That's when I found an art course that changed everything! I studied full time and learned the foundational skills for drawing and oil painting, followed by mixed media (I didn't even know what that meant a year ago!), creating a portfolio of work and how to manage an art business.
It all started to make sense and fall into place. My romantic teenage dream of being an artist wasn't a pipe dream at all. It was always attainable and now I'm living it! I recognised what it was that completely lit me up from the deepest parts of me; I chased that feeling as if it were glowing breadcrumbs beckoning me to follow... as I collected those breadcrumbs, synchronicities popped up everywhere and I know this is exactly where I'm meant to be.
Now my collectors share the same feelings when they have my artwork in their homes. The same sensation of remembering what it is that lights them up.
Imagine your thoughts on a wall in your home
to remind you of the deepest, most passionate parts of yourself,
so you can connect to them every day;
Inspiring and motivating you.
I'm always striving to create artwork that displays loads of depth and dimension to give you, the viewer many opportunities to see things that remind you of something deep within you that lights you up.
The world is a big ol' magical place
full of wonders waiting for you to tap into,
calling you to remember who you are and what lights you up
If you're local to the Tea Tree Gully area
You might have seen some of my work at Gallery 1855 or The Gully Arts Show over the last two years.
When I'm not in the studio, at my easel or creating content for social media, I can be found walking my dog Chidi, reading or journalling - or soon I plan to get out and about with my new car camper tent!
Here are 10 more fun facts about me:
-
My first published drawing and poem was when I was about 10 years old, in our local newspaper The Sunday Mail Possum Pages.
-
I had a massive fan crush on Hart to Hart from aged 13 to 17 - tragically so, but that's also when I did most of my sketching.
-
I love retro games, adventure PC games and I have a tabletop arcade game in my house!
-
I have an electric guitar and a banjo (banjitar actually) and a flute. I can play a little guitar and banjo but not the flute! 😂
-
I studied esoteric astrology, naturopathy and coaching.
-
I love all things to do with the ancient worlds of priestesses, oracles, myth and legend.
-
I'm a lifelong learner of human behaviour and love models like Extended DISC and Human Design and how we can use that knowledge to be better communicators, have better relationships, grow and learn more about ourselves.
-
In high school I met Princess Diana during her visit to Australia in 1983!!👸🏼
-
I'm currently reading the sixth book in the Earth's Children series by Jean M Auel.
-
If you haven't guessed already, I'm a bit of a geek 😉