“Sight Unseen”

Truths clouded in secrecy and mystery, themes that excite my imagination.

I was born into a creative family. Oil paint and turpentine were smells of our childhood.

As a child I was a dreamer…… I spent a lot of time looking at things very closely…… I was restlessly active and when forced to sit still I was able to escape by gazing out the window or into my mind … forming pictures within the passing clouds.

I loved the Coles Funny Picture books that were filled with cartoons and puzzles. The drawings that had hidden images were my favourite. Drawings within drawings, often wth a moral message, I couldn’t get enough of them.

These cartoons showed me a way of incorporating mystery and discovery into a picture.

I started recording of a visual diary of my life. Drawing my world and incorporating my thoughts in the underwritten more subtle one.

Camouflage tricks the eye and convinces the mind.

I needed to learn to draw so that I had enough technique to express my ideas to others so I enrolled in Art School as a mature age student at the age of 21.

I applied myself to my studies and emerged as a practising Artist, a vocation that I continue to work at.

I moved with my family to 100 acres of bushland and built a house and a new life. Living alongside nature was so visually exciting and inspiring. The forest and its inhabitants was my main source of imagery.

In nature we see the use of colour, form and texture to emphasise or blend form. Look at the octopus or the chameleon, who vanish right in front of our eyes…… Creatures use camouflage to disappear from sight and blend in with their environment or wear bold colouring to attract attention.

In the human world the ability to perform a visual illusion is the realm of the artist.

I aim to share the result of this exploration of imagery and technique.