The Passionate Painter

Always creative, this artist is now the proud owner of her very own studio gallery.

I have always enjoyed being “creative” and when I was young I was forever making some type of craft or sewing. I loved art at school and couldn’t wait for class, but I didn’t believe I could paint, my love being drawing and sculpture. It wasn’t until many years later when my husband David and I were running a business in western Victoria that I found I needed an outlet to take me away from my daily routine, so I decided to pick up a paint brush again after being inspired by my mother who had taken up oils in her later years.

I dabbled in a few paintings of the local scenery and painted miniatures, making them into magnets and put them up for sale in the foyer of the motel where, much to my surprise, they sold, and the magnets became a great tourist sale point. One night, a local dining in our restaurant noticed my work and contacted me and asked whether I would like to be part of an art exhibition they were holding at the Old Convent. This was my first time exhibiting my work and it was rather daunting participating in what I called “the real world with real artists”. I successfully participated and was then asked to participate in a further exhibition called 12 x 12 (12 artists, 12 paintings each). The response to my work was most encouraging with numerous sales so I continued to paint.

Moving to the far south coast of NSW some years ago, there was still not enough time available for me to spend at my “art” as David and I continued operating our own business seven days a week and had two schoolaged boys, Robert and Matthew. I would paint whenever I could, dragging my paints and canvases out of the cupboard to the kitchen table after clearing away dinner and painting away until the late hours, losing myself in the enjoyment of painting.