When did you first discover your love for making art?
It started as a baby, quite literally! One of my earliest memories is climbing up to the top shelf in the cupboard to get into my dad’s oil paint and crawling back and painting my cot! I was always fascinated with art from a young age and I drove my parents wild with new designs on my walls, and furniture. I even drank dad’s painting turps as a toddler – which is a whole other story - so you can say painting is in my blood!

Was there anyone in particular in your childhood or youth that encouraged your practice?
I would say both mum and dad are so creative and were very encouraging, however in particular it was my nan who had the biggest impact. My nan was a wonderful painter, going to her house I could always smell gum turps in the background. From a very young age she took me under her wing and trained me in water colours and oil paints and by the time I was a teenager, I was a confident painter.

What is involved in your creative process?
I like to paint with a lot of feeling and fluidity, and I think a big part of this actually comes from my time learning piano when I was younger. My piano teacher would say how important it was to have loose wrists and how it helps the hands become fluid when they play, and I feel I have applied the same principal when I am painting.

What are you inspired by?
I am inspired by open skies, the colours, and the texture of the Australian landscape. I am inspired by fleeting moments and memories, the strength and resilience of the land we live on and what it teaches us.

What would you like your audience to know about this latest collection ‘With You’?
My latest body of work, ‘With You’ is a reminder that amongst the landscape, we are connected. My intention is to create a space with my work, that is suggestive and inviting, allowing for interaction and immersive play from the viewer. A simple stroke of paint, becomes alive and a part of a scene created from memory or imagination. The viewer brings the work alive, and this is because we all carry landscapes within us – it is quite magic really! And I am reminded by a quote by Agnes Varda, ‘If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes.’

What emotional connection do you wish your audience to feel through your artwork?
I ultimately want the viewer to know, that they are not alone in this world. There is a place they can go where they can feel comfort, peace and freedom.

Click here to view available works from 'With You' and download the artwork catalogue