About Me

I am a painter based in Kurrajong in the Hawkesbury region of NSW, Australia. Working primarily in oils and acrylics, with occasional watercolour, I create original paintings that explore light, colour, form and the character of my subjects.

My work ranges across Australian bird paintings, still life, botanical subjects, landscapes and figurative work, with inspiration often coming from the natural environment, everyday observations and places encountered while travelling. Australian birds are a recurring subject, particularly magpies, galahs, ibis and other familiar native species whose personalities, movement and distinctive forms lend themselves to close observation.

I love the interplay of light and shadow and the way changing light can reveal texture, shape, colour and atmosphere. Whether I am painting a bird, a collection of flowers, fruit on a table or a landscape, I am drawn to those quieter moments when light transforms an otherwise familiar subject.

Mostly self-taught, I have continued to develop my painting practice through study at Sydney Art School and two short courses at Sydney's National Art School. This combination of formal tuition and independent experimentation has bolstered my technical understanding while allowing my own artistic voice to develop naturally.

In 2026, I began exhibiting in galleries, with work selected for a growing number of group exhibitions in New South Wales and Queensland. During the year I exhibited in three exhibitions at Aspire Gallery in Brisbane: Little Feature Wall in May 2026, Roam in June and July 2026, and Petite later in the year. My work was also selected for Hawkesbury Now 2026 at the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery in October 2026, as well as the National Bird Week exhibition in Stanmore, Sydney, also in October 2026.

My paintings are held in private collections in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the UK, and it is particularly humbling to know that work made in my Kurrajong studio is enjoyed both locally and internationally.

My studio practice is deliberately exploratory, and I am the first to admit I sometimes make huge mistakes. I enjoy working with different painting techniques, surfaces, colour combinations and approaches to mark-making rather than trying to force my work into a single identifiable style. Some paintings are carefully observed and detailed; others are looser, more textural or experimental. It really depends on my mood that day.

For me, each painting is an opportunity to understand something new about colour, composition, light, paint and the particular challenges of the subject itself. I am less interested in defining a fixed signature style than in looking closely, responding honestly to what I see and enjoying the simple pleasure of putting paint to canvas.

That process inevitably includes experimentation, changing direction, trying unfamiliar techniques and occasionally getting things wrong. Each painting teaches me something that finds its way into the next.

For now, I am content to follow my curiosity wherever it leads, creating original Australian paintings from my studio in Kurrajong and continuing to explore birds, still life, landscapes, people and places through paint.

Instagram: @feeoncanvas