Beauty Everywhere

Enthusiasm comes easily to this lady who is constantly surrounded by subject matter, due largely to her passion for watching wildlife. She sees beauty in all manner of things … from the common to the spectacular.

- Dr Pete Marshall

The United Kingdom was my birthplace. I qualified as a veterinary surgeon and emigrated to Australia with a young family some 30 years ago. Now, with the family grown (and flown the nest), I live in the foothills north of Melbourne surrounded by a native and rural environment – very conducive to developing a second career as an artist specialising in wildlife.

I have always enjoyed art, but my family and a scientific career pushed it to the background until we made the ‘tree-change’. I tentatively started on this art path with classes in oils at Monsalvat in the Tonal Realism school in the late ’80s; but I moved on to discover the joy of pastels – their brilliance, their intensity – and above all the ease of stopping and starting in my busy life and the speed in which I could achieve an outcome.

As time passed, I became more and more entranced with the medium, finding that I could portray the animals I found in my ‘other life’ in a way which was both realistic and artistic without being photographic. I continued in art classes for some years, developing my skills and knowledge … and gradually my passions for wildlife, the environment, conservation and art became the focus for my second career. My first entry in the juried Wildlife Artists’ Society of Australasia Exhibition was accepted and I was on my way. Eventually, I took on the responsibility of Exhibition Director for the society; and I learned much and made many good friends.