From hyper realistic beginnings, to expressionism and simplified shape and form, my influences include: Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman, Henri Matisse, Banksy, Roy Lichtenstein, Gerhard Richter, Berthe Morisot, and Georges Seurat.
I am a contemporary artist and photographer creating conceptual art that investigates the human form, light, paint, colour, and my own personal journey. I developed my painting style from hyper-realistic beginnings to simplified shape and form with the influences of action painting Expressionism and Pop Art. By creating solid shapes and in-between spaces in my paintings I depict what I could see on the surface and what lies beneath. In my original paintings I work with professional artist acrylic spray paints, acrylic paint and acrylic mediums. I use only the best Golden, Liquitex, and Derivan Mattisse products. Working entirely on horizontal surfaces, intentionally referring to the feminine, I become immersed in my artwork from all sides. I paint in layers - the background using action painting (expressionistic) techniques - pouring, dripping, splashing paint and involving my body in the painting process rather than just the paintbrush. The figure is created using contemporary pop art techniques and stencils. And a further layer of hand painting brings the foreground and background together. My palette is colourful and uses strong contrasts to capture a mood of strength. Today my paintings are incredibly unique and internationally sought after. There is no one else that paints the way I do! Notably, I was a Bluethumb Award Finalist in 2021. And to date, I have sold my work Internationally to private collectors in New Zealand, Zurich, Germany, the USA, Hong Kong, and to every state in Australia.
Today my work celebrates inspiring images of women standing in, emerging from, or swimming through, water. I paint the female figure in unique, bold poses so women can celebrate freedom with confidence and live braver lives. My women are strong, beautiful, resilient, independent, and above all valued - and it is through drips and splashes of paint that I evoke freedom. I also use vibrant colours and a stark contrast to communicate confidence. The underwater world offers an other-worldly, nurturing, healing, and freeing space for my women to explore. Here, my women are free from restraint, free to be who they want to be - all the things I wish for all our daughters. My paintings uplift my viewers - I am a woman, my subject is women, and I'm painting for women - we women, and our girls can do anything we want!
My underwater photographs of women inform my paintings and celebrate the same themes, embracing the genre of illusionistic realism. My ethereal yet realistic photographs are accurate depictions of lifeforms and perspectives, and celebrate the details of light and colour - they can also be surreal at times. Here, time and form are suspended, and the filtered light shifts colours, shapes and shadows move, creating beautiful reflections. For me, the most amazing thing about being underwater is that the rest of the world disappears for a while. There are no distractions or stress - just quietness, coolness, and freedom.
I like to tell a story with my underwater paintings and photographs - to give my viewers a sense of another magical but uplifted world. The hair and clothing move with the water, the models suspended in space - the light filtered and flickering, and beautiful reflections are created. The entire scene is blanketed in this cool, quiet, flowing, bubbly medium that to me represents a special place of safety and healing.
