Biography

I’ve been drawn to art since my early teenage years, when I started buying art books and painting supplies. However, I was unsure of my abilities and stopped taking art in school once it was no longer mandatory. Instead I got a degree in Physics and Computer Science and went to work in high tech as a computer programmer.

When I discovered the Art Access program at Emily Carr College, in my twenties, I finally started my artistic journey. That led to a degree in Visual Arts which took me 18 (!) years to complete, part-time. However, the kind of preplanning and intellectual intent required at art school resulted in me spending more time thinking about art than actually making art. After graduation I didn’t paint for three years.

Taking a week-long summer workshop with Sunshine Coast painter and teacher Todd Clark helped me get past the blocks I’d acquired at school. This workshop was my first introduction to ‘intuitive’ painting, which is such a pleasant diversion from the highly planned and linear work I do in my day job as a web software developer.

Many of my works are abstract and evolve from a ‘dialogue’ between myself and the painting. The initial brush strokes are intuitive and unpremeditated, but after working on the painting for a time, I find it becomes associated in my mind with certain ideas, which then guide the completion of the painting.

I am fascinated with the natural world, and deeply concerned about climate change and environmental destruction. That may be why my abstract paintings often evolve into abstracted landscapes.

Artists whose work influences me include: J. M. W. Turner, Gordon Smith, Claude Monet and Todd Clark.

(Pictures on this page by Carolyn Clarke Photography)