Having trained as an architect I was exposed to the visual arts before I turned 20 and was taught to draw and participated in life drawing classes, however, it was not until I retired in 2010 that I had the opportunity to develop my painting skills using pastels and acrylics, oils, gouache and watercolour paint. I undertook painting lessons with the Beaumaris Art Group for five years, including contemporary still life, landscape, portraiture and life drawing, and joined the Elgin Artists in late 2013, where I have developed my own style influenced by those around me in the studio.
I have participated in the Elgin Artists annual exhibitions since 2014 and the various excursions undertaken by the group, including tours of Rajasthan, in northern India, and Japan. During the COVID 19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021 I was particularly productive, despite only having limited access to the studio, mainly painting at home. The resultant paintings were based on local subjects around my Melbourne Bayside suburb, the devastating bushfires of 2020, the South Melbourne Market and trips to the Bogong High Plains and Wilson’s Promontory.
I have held two solo exhibitions; one based on exploring the sights of Rome and the other based on the Elgin Artists trip to Rajasthan in 2017, entitled “Black Rock to Bharatpur” and undertaken a number of privately commissioned works.