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Journeys, in all their forms, are woven from moments that leave lasting impressions. Some pass by in the blink of an eye, others unfold slowly across time — yet each, whether fleeting or enduring, recent or long past, physical or imagined, carries an emotional weight. These moments have a way of settling into us, gathering meaning with hindsight, and deepening our understanding of both place and self.

I grew up in the Yorkshire Dales in the north of England. Hikes and wanderings were a regular feature of my early childhood. Climbing hulking mountains, lefty lofty by ancient glacial activity eroding the river valleys below, was a regular family pastime. Soaking up vast and rolling vistas and often seeking a spot to shelter from the constantly changing weather, was just what we did on weekends.

Having recently had the visual aesthetic of my Distillation Series likened to that of Melbourne based Roar artists, I was prompted to explore their work and philosophy. I knew nothing about them, but was intrigued to discover that in the 1980's, a discontented group of Melbourne art school students were paving the way for a new scene. Feeling uninspired by the current aesthetic trends of the time and that the 'art system' was rigid and impossible to break into...

In July this year, Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne hosted their annual Fifty Squared Art Prize group exhibition. With over 800 entries this year, of amazing calibre and incredible diversity from talented, emerging and established artists from around the country, I felt privileged just to be 'hanging in there'.

The 2021 Noosa Open Studios team have been busy preparing deckchair frames and canvases for this fantastic initiative. I've been busy working on my canvas along with other local selected artists to paint an original artwork for collaborative display at this years event. This year, deckchairs will be making their way to the Swell Sculpture Festival on the Gold Coast to promote the Noosa Open Studios Event. Can't wait to see it all come together, watch this space!

This body of work evolved from a series of process-driven sketches on paper using a limited colour palette, creating a visual dialogue between positive and negative space within each piece. This series was intended as a brief exploratory journey, away from working on large canvas panels and on a more intimate scale through which I could move quickly capturing many ideas and compositional designs in a relatively short space of time.