Biography

I love being surrounded by the Australian bush, or outback rugged landscapes, and painting
for me is a discipline in this observation, where I get the chance to translate in my own
vision. I have a few favourite places where I often return to paint. Not the same scene or the
same angle always from a slightly different viewpoint. For me it’s a race to capture that
fleeting clip of light on a tree trunk or patch or grass. The atmosphere and play of light are
ever changing. I like to capture what catches my interest using colour and a brush. Hunting
the patterns and the rhythm of the landscape.
Wherever I am, I always have a fully loaded palette at the ready and as a colourist find
restraint hard. Drawing is the basis of my work, and whilst I never make a preliminary sketch
I always “sketch with the brush” drawing in the essential elements in paint. Boldly pushing
colour, not invented, but found. Extracting colours from within the landscape and pushing
them to their limit. If something has an orange tinge, then it is orange, if there is a vague
lavender or soft dirty pink then let’s make it magenta.
My work is always changing, from a very traditional discipline whilst learning in the 1980’s to
a type of deconstruction of forms and re-assemblage of visual “clues” expanding on
occasions into pure abstract. After 40 years of “brush mileage” the journey is always
changing.