I was a TV director until the word “artist” popped out of my mouth…
At the beginning of 2020 Covid 19 hit Sydney and film and TV production was shut down overnight. It was the final straw in the fraught relationship I had with the industry. Covid helped me realise it was time to move on and although I had a wonderful family, a home I loved and a great job, I knew I wanted to do something more.
A friend asked me “Who are you?” and “An artist” popped out of my mouth. It took me by surprise as I had given up on being an artist when I was a child. I remember the exact moment… I was in the art room at school working on my oil painting of Eilena Donan Castle in Scotland. I couldn’t get it right and I decided in that moment that being an artist wasn’t going to be my future. So I dropped art and promptly forgot I had any talent at all.
And then 35 years later I found myself buying a tiny pack of oil paints and starting over. My goal was to put one painting on an online art gallery and I was nervous. What if no one liked my work?
I took on doing 60 paintings in 60 days so I wouldn’t get caught up in trying to get things right and I kept myself accountable by posting the painting each day on Facebook.
The response was amazing. People loved my work. I got messages from friends who said my paintings were the highlight of their day as they struggled through Lockdown. Others were inspired to get creative themselves. For me, well I was obsessed. I adored working with the paint and colours, and once I realised perfection was not what my paintings were about, I found myself free to invent and create. I experienced complete joy and freedom in doing the work. Then people asked to buy my paintings…
What’s followed has been nothing short of phenomenal. I created a full studio in my home, had a solo exhibition of 17 paintings, a group exhibition attended by 250 people and another online exhibition when Covid shut down things again. Then 20 months after I bought my first paints I left my job to be full-time artist. I was perhaps a little optimistic with that, and I’m now part-time at a fantastic charity with the most amazing people!!!
My goal now is to have an absolutely joyous time my life, doing what I love and sharing my journey. I want to connect people with art, with each other and with their own self expression so they too are inspired to discover their dreams and adore their journey going after them.