I am a self-taught artist and I love working with oils on canvas.  I’ve always loved drawing and painting, but my oil painting journey began when I was a student of architecture at VUW.  I painted scenes of Wellington, with a focus on architecture and light.  I particularly wanted to explore how light (and shadow) could elevate even the drabbest, dingiest space into a scene of beauty, worthy of appreciation and admiration.  In 2004, I had my first exhibition at Fifty2 Gallery, titled ’04-place’.

I spent the following year travelling around Europe, excited to finally see and experience architecture I’d only ever admired through photographs.  To my surprise, however, it was the art museums that really captivated me.  I remember the first time I saw a Van Gogh painting in person – I was bedazzled.  I had never seen anything like it in my life until then; and to this day, his ‘Sunflowers’ painting in the National Gallery of London remains my favourite artwork, along with Picasso’s ‘Mujer en Azul’.  I fell in love with the work of the Impressionist artists, and the Musée d’Orsay was my idea of heaven.

Upon returning to New Zealand I retrained as a secondary school teacher of Graphics & Design and channeled my passion for art and architecture into my teaching practice.  Now I am home educating my own children and I’ve decided it’s time for me to make space for my own creative practice.  For the first time, my children can see a huge part of me that they never knew and they are inspired.  I hope that my paintings inspire others to recognise the creativity and joy that lie within all of us; often hidden, but so worthy of expression and appreciation.