My Art Journey
Born in Adelaide in 1959, I have always called South Australia home. I am not one of those artists who has been drawing consistently and enthusiastically since birth, in fact my early interest faded into the background in my mid-twenties and didn’t really re-emerge until my early fifties. In that time I taught for 17 years, was a massage therapist for 18 years and after completing a Post-graduate counselling course, I had the epiphany that what I really needed to do was to be an artist. This meant that my art journey has had two distinct periods with a long gap between them.
The Early Years
I enjoyed drawing as a child and my neat, serious disposition meant I was always one to colour between the lines. During those early years I also loved teaching and my teddy bears and dolls were the best educated in our street. I dabbled with my art and by my late teens I was painting Australian landscapes with acrylics.
In my early twenties, just after I left home and started my first teaching job, I discovered the art of Roger Dean and Alan Lee. Suddenly the watercolours and drawings of Alan Lee in his two books, Faeries and Castles, opened my mind to a world of new possibilities. I tried colour pencil versions of Roger Dean’s fantastical worlds and flowing designs. I spent hours looking at Alan Lee’s watercolours of mysterious characters and mythical castles. At the time I was unaware of the impact this would have on my future choices.
Inspired by Hans Heysen, I tried watercolour briefly but found it difficult and very different from acrylics. I had minimal access to training or how to books and so I did not pursue watercolour any further after that brief initial trial.
By my mid to late twenties I had abandoned doing the fantastical art I felt truly drawn to in pursuit of more sensible and serious things. Fantasy art was not as popular or mainstream in my world at that time and so my ‘quirky’ art was replaced by photography as my creative outlet. Work took up most of my time and so for about 25 years the time rolled on until, in my early fifties following some big life changes, I re-discovered my true connection to my art.
Around 2007 I discovered the art of Stephanie Law. The nature of the subject matter and her instructional books on watercolour techniques enticed me back to try watercolour again, purely for personal enjoyment. Three early A5 size studies of her work are shown below as I began to learn about watercolour.
When I finally began to paint again with more public intentions in mind, I chose to use acrylics as I was more familiar with them. Four of these 2010 era paintings are shown below and were included in my first group exhibition where A Sacred Bond was sold. I also sold cards from this series which I titled, Spirit in Nature.
Despite having some success with my acrylics it soon became apparent to me that the medium I was most drawn to was watercolour. I chose to face the frustrations head on knowing that this time around, I had access to a wide range of books and DVD’s. This opened up a new chapter of my artistic journey as I enthusiastically devoured all the watercolour resources I could lay my hands on.
I have always been fascinated by colour and so in the beginning I was highly focused on developing my watercolour skills by exploring the mixing of colours, learning the characteristics of watercolour pigments and how to apply them. I tried to keep my subject matter more conventional and this reflected a continuation of the conflict I felt about the need to stick with more sensible, acceptable and realistic subjects if I wanted to be taken seriously. Despite this angels and faeries kept popping into my repertoire. Eventually, the need to pursue what I love won out and so instead of hiding away or feeling embarrassed I embarked on a more authentic exploration my true personal preferences and here I am sharing all of who I am through a catalogue of works that celebrates the present but also includes the past.
My art is about worlds within worlds, where glowing halos and sweeping flows of light move through spaces and places that can both imaginary and yet subtly familiar.
I have always felt that I was a bit to the left of centre and so now instead of hiding, fearing and fighting that feeling of being different, I choose to simply see and embrace my ‘uniqueness’. I am opening up to explore a world full of new possibilities and, even though I don’t know where it will lead, the prospects feel exciting.
Art Education
I do not have any formal tertiary art training instead I have followed my instincts and picked my own path through the resources I have had access to. I have collected and studied many books and DVD’s on watercolour. My learning has for the most part been self-directed. I’ve done a few live workshops and since about 2020 I have had the data required to venture into the world of YouTube, the internet and online courses.
Some Recent Courses and Books
Here is a selection of recent resources that I found very useful:
Love Life Drawing … helped to improve my basic understanding of how to see the figure via free and paid courses.
Understanding Value by Devin Korwin …..video download via Underpaint Academy and his two Ebooks Creative Fundamentals Vol. 1 and Vol.2.
Drapery & Costume Fundamentals with Ramon Hurtado …..video download via Underpaint Academy.
Mastering Composition with Ian Roberts…. online live course. I also highly recommend Ian Roberts’ books Mastering Composition and Creative Authenticity.
In the smorgasbord of information that is out there these days it pays to be selective and after a while I realised that personality and personal preferences are factors that need to be considered consciously when making choices. The temptation to give my power away to others and assume they knew what was best for me, just because they had more experience than me, was a bit of a trap in the beginning. In recent times, I have learned to be more patient with myself and to make more discerning choices that consider my needs in a more focused way so that I don’t rush off on tangents and disappear down rabbit holes.
In general, I take a more reflective approach, following my intuition to select what I need and then applying whatever I feel is relevant to me at that particular stage of my progress. I observe my responses when something about another artist’s work tickles at the edge of my awareness. I may be drawn by the colour scheme, the subject matter they have chosen, their composition, their technique or their process. As I clarify what has attracted me, I learn more about myself. Through practice and experimentation I investigate how I might apply the information to my own art practice, rather than simply copying their art or trying to emulate their style.
My art education is part of a personal and on-going journey which continues to evolve through a systematic but intuitively guided approach. My awareness and application of techniques and skills will continue to develop, along side of my growing awareness of who I am and what it is I need to express through my art.