I’ve been a pastel artist for almost 20 years now, dabbling in watercolour and mixed media along the way. I grew up in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria and have loved the mountains for as long as I can remember. I’ll choose being outdoors over being indoors every time and that’s why I love painting en plein air whenever I get the chance. I moved to Mandurah WA in late 2019 with a view to changing things up but just as I started getting comfortable with my new life Covid hit. That initial period of isolation in 2020 led me to try to paint the tiny birds I encountered on my solo daily walks. Hot on the heels of Covid I got an unexpected cancer diagnosis and throughout the next year of surgeries and treatments it was working on those bird paintings that kept me looking forward and got me through each day. Art made me feel like I existed, and when I started posting my birds online they connected me with the outside world. When people started asking if they could buy the birds it gave me the confidence to go bigger. Now, 18 months on I’ve completed an artist residency, I’m showing my work, both in exhibitions and online and selling locally and internationally. I’m in remission too. Those little bird paintings changed my life :)