I was born in Corimal, Wollongong in 1946, raised in Sydney, then spent my teens on my parents grazing property in the Tamworth NSW area. I first came in touch with painting at high school in Sydney, where I had the most wonderful art teacher Mrs. May. It was she, who started the fire, for my passion to become an artist, at age 13 and I can’t remember drawing before that.
Then, back on the farm my father also was busy teaching me about gum trees and how to identify them. We spent many a day wandering through the bush talking about the trees together. We seemed to have the same love of the bush. He was an Electrical Engineer and a very good draftsman. I still have his gum tree books to this day. I have since spent many days wandering through the bush or on the beach getting the “feel” for the subject and getting to know it. I am a “seasonal painter” and by this I mean I try to make a reference to the season I am in or I use atmosphere to suit a season like “mist for winter.” I have since found out my father was interested in Art as a child and never stopped drawing. I wish he had lived long enough for me to talk to him about that.
So I started out painting the farm and the gum trees in oils using shoe-cleaning white for my white paint until I found a job. This went on for many years, but with more expensive paint, in Tamworth, Sydney, Melbourne, Albury, Mudgee, and in Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie I added seascape to my repertoire. I also lived up and down the east coast at places such as The Gold Coast, Forster, South West Rocks and Bonny Hills.
I later practiced a lot with portraiture, pets, tropical fish, clowns (Kathy’s Klowns), Australian birds, waterlilies, stillife and flower studies. I added pastel to my mediums and found it a very exciting colourful medium. The works just fell off my fingers, as I was a natural draftswoman like my father. I later added pen, pencil, watercolour and charcoal to my medium list.
I have 3 children, and 4 grandchildren.
I have been painting Gum Trees now for over 57 years and tutored Art classes for 30 years.