Tree in morning sun, Botanical Gardens, Geelong

Okay, I freely admit I'm a tree hugger. I love them. So much so that in my first novel, The Snowing and Greening of Thomas Passmore, I turned my main character into a tree - Leafy George - for a short while! And while I'm predominantly painting the interplay of shadows across buildings at the moment, there's more often than not a tree somewhere in the background to remind the viewer about the enduring power of nature.

When I saw the many ways the sunlight was dancing through this particular tree in Geelong Botanical Gardens, to create highlights, contrasts and wonderful shadows, I was very keen to capture my impression of it. This is the result.

Framed in raw oak.

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I am an artist and author who loves looking for the stories in life and in the world around me, and have spent most of my life telling stories through words and with paint. My novels, short fiction and non-fiction have been published in the United Kingdom and Australia. Several years ago, I decided to dedicate more time to art, and it's a decision I'm delighted I made because I find painting wonderfully absorbing and rewarding. Making a canvas or board spring to life with light and colour, shadows and highlights, is an amazing feeling, and having other people enjoy that work is even better!

Emigrating to Australia over 35 years ago, my first impressions were of the scale of the landscape and sky, the depth of the horizon, the brightness of the light, the vividness of colours and sharpness of contrast, but familiarity has in no way dulled this for me. On the contrary, painting helps me continue to learn to see these qualities in every day life; aspects of which I in turn try to capture in my work.