Possibly the cover of this calendar is my favourite painting this year. It felt like I improved as an artist. People are hard for me and i have never been able to ‘fill in the gaps’ or loosely suggest figures. It has always been a painstaking and difficult process to try and achieve something that looks like a person. This painting excites me because I wanted to paint a bush picnic, a ‘smoko’ and the only reference photo I had was a rubbish photo from my phone with bad light and terrible proportions and this time I felt I was able to ‘fill in the gaps’ and create a story that read well 🙂
‘Smoko is also the painting for December so I won’t repeat myself there.
The facing pages are the best bit for me – my 2025 adventures 🙂
Last year I was trying oil paint with more frustration than success – this year it started to come together for me. This one happened while I was looking for reference photo’s for Cilla’s backdrop. A friend, Cheryl Cumming, took a series of terrific photos of the mustering years ago and I revisit them every now and then. It’s a timeless story, the horseman and his dogs working the mob.
I will be interested to see what others think of this one. I love it and I loved painting it. I sat on the lawn (not as comfortable by the end of the painting) and so enjoyed tackling these beautiful flowers against the background of the afternoon sky and my favourite chair on the deck.
This is an older painting that has always been a favourite and it felt right to sneak it in here. This one was inks and acrylics – I love the bright colours it gave me.
We have had a beautiful season this year and my garden sprang to life as the relentless heat of summer faded and Autumn’s gentler days began. I paint from life whenever I can. It was a delight to pick these roses and paint them. There is a little tansy, lemon verbena and asparagus fern in the mix too.
Again with the people. I want to get better at this. To tell more stories like just plugging away in your high vis getting your job done.
Gorgeous Garden Bounty – deliberately placed in June in case it those winter days get a bit grey!
The quiet peace of a special spot down the creek. For the full story check out my blog
These were a piece of time stolen from all the thing I was supposed to be doing. Instead I sat on my deck with the bright spring light and tried to capture more roses, banksia roses and freesias 🙂 Bliss!
This won first prize in the Australian poetry section of the South Burnett Council Regional Gallery October Comp. For the full story on the painting click the link below to my blog
I love the way the pony waits patiently and the dogs are keen to lend a hand. The young horseman and his team have got this!
This one is special. It took a fair bit of effort but I am really happy with how it turned out. Link below
If you would like to purchase my 2026 Calendar they are $15 in my store plus $5 shipping Australia Wide