Background
I am a retired neuroscientist, with a passion for fine detail, a result of
many years of research using a variety of microscopes,
including electron microscopes. These days, the passion for detail is
channeled into
drawings, watercolours and etchings of plants and animals found in
Australia, with a special interest in the endemic species of Tasmania.
My interest in drawing and watercolours started as a child, and
have continued to draw, and paint ever since.
In 1991, I undertook a year of part-time study in watercolour, with
the Australian artist Owen Thompson at the Julian Ashton Art School in
Sydney.
I love the combination of pen and ink with colour, and gravitated to
printmaking, studying with printmaker Seraphina Martin, at the School of Fine
Arts (University of Sydney), followed with 2 years at the Laurel Street Art
Centre, Willoughby, mentored by the artist Mieke Cohen.
Following my retirement from Academia and moving to
Kettering in 2001, I have been able to devote more time to my artistic
interests. I obtained the Diploma of Botanical Illustrations (long distance)
from the Society of Botanical Art (UK) in 2015.
I have taken part in numerous small group exhibitions in
Southern Tasmania, regularly exhibit at a number of local exhibitions,
and am an invited artist at Art at the Point (Dennes Pt) exhibitions.
Much of my more recent works has been commission based.
In 2008 I was commissioned by the Understorey Network to produce a
series of 12 detailed black and white drawings of native plants and
endangered invertebrates typically found in the central North and North East
regions of Tasmania.
These drawings, were printed on the front cover of each region's Plant Species
Information List.
A set of 6 drawings from this body of work, travelled throughout
Tasmania from March 2009 to March 2010, as part of the Tasmanian Regional
Arts travelling exhibition.
In 2010 I participated in the Over the Edge Exhibition, a
collaboration between Hunter Island Press and the CSIRO Marine and
Atmospheric Research. I was partnered with Prue Bonham from the Marine
division and produced a series of dry point etchings entitled
Plankton Series.
One of the prints,
Hairy Friends, Bacteriastrum sp. was chosen for the
front cover of the catalogue.
In 2011 I was part of the Periodic Table project for
the International Year of Chemistry, doing etchings for three elements,
Chlorine (Cl),
Gallium (Ga), and
Technictium (Tc).
A collaboration between
chemists and Tasmanian printmakers to produce an artistic impression of the
IUPAC approved 2010 Periodic Table. The result is displayed on the Chemistry
Resource page of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute website
(www.raci.org.au/periodic-table-on-show).
The assembled table toured Australia and New Zealand, and a permanent
display has been installed at the Royal Australian Chemical Institute both
in Melbourne and in New Zealand..
A poster of the periodic table has been distributed to schools throughout
Australia.
I produce limited editions of etchings (20) depicting Tasmanian native plants
and animals, as well as botanical art cards made from my original botanical
watercolours.
My work can be found in private collections in Australia and overseas as
well as Lovett Gallery (Cygnet, TAS) and Art at the Point (Bruny Island,
TAS). My botanical cards are also available through Fullers Book
store, Hobart (TAS) and Native Plants of Tasmanian Nursery, Ridgeway (TAS).
I am a founding member and immediate past president of the
(Channel Regional Arts Group (CRAG)),
and a member of
Hunter Island Press Inc;
The Art Society of Tasmania Inc;
Huon Art Exhibition Group; (HAEG).
The Botanical Art
Society of Australia
and
Botaniko , a small group of like-minded
botanical artists who meet regularly to paint, bounce ideas around, and
generally enjoy working together, usually on projects of historical
botanical significance which result in yearly exhibitions.
