Silver Dollar and Sunlight

This painting is from a small group of works I completed last year.
I work and live in an industrial area in Sydney’s Inner West and am inspired by the wild native plants and street trees that grow out of the concrete, among the factories, under the flight path and against the 24/7 hum of Westconnex construction and the Metro tunnelling at the end of my street.

I walk most days and “community prune” samples of these unloved plants to take back to my studio to draw and paint.

These still life set ups starring my collected sprigs represent a hostile environment where nature resists. The paintings produced in this series have a strong focus on composition and hard directional natural light.

You may notice some dark markings on the frame, these are the naturally occurring variants (knots) within the timber - as you would expect from a natural material. They are not defects.

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I’ve been making art for most of my life, though the path here hasn’t been completely straightforward. What was meant to be a one-year trip from the UK to Sydney in 1994 somehow turned into a permanent move, and Australia has felt like home ever since.
A lot of my work begins outdoors; walking, noticing plants growing through fences, strange colour combinations in nature, or bringing home flowers and cuttings to paint in the studio. Painting has always been a way for me to slow down and pay attention. It’s where I feel most myself.
Before returning to painting full-time in 2015, I worked across surface pattern design, printmaking and graphic design, and those influences still shape the way I paint today; through colour, rhythm, line and composition. I’m also deeply inspired by the simplicity and spontaneity of Chinese and Japanese ink painting, calligraphy and woodblock prints, though my work has gradually evolved into something much looser and more contemporary over time.
Since returning to full-time practice, my work has been exhibited in solo and group shows across Australia and selected as a finalist in prizes including the Calleen Art Award, Lethbridge Prize, Bluethumb Art Prize and the National Contemporary Watercolour Prize. My paintings and prints have also been licensed onto homewares and collected internationally.
I still feel genuinely grateful that I get to spend my days painting, and I hope that sense of joy, calm and curiosity finds its way into the work itself.