Campaspe Artists Studio Trail

I am a Colbinabbin farmer and winemaker, who has recently returned to my first love, art. In my working life as a cropping and livestock farmer, I am hard working and prosaic; yet I am always aware of the beauty of the natural world, of the plays of light and dark in daily life, and of the pathos of lives lived on the land, the joys and disappointments of the people around me.

I paint in watercolours, producing highly detailed and realistic botanical works, capturing the beauty of the simplest plants that we may overlook in our busy lives. I enjoy the minute detail, where one finds beauty and balance, where usually we only see a blur. My works have been exhibited at a few exhibitions, including The Art of Botanical Illustration (Royal Botanic Gardens) in 2024.

I also work in oils, where I have a fascination with the human condition. I paint portraits of people that capture not only the likeness but the character of the subject, and the personal moment I have caught them in. I like to represent my subjects at a liminal moment, at moments of possibility and change.

My painting is a slow process, drawn out over months for a single work, so that the final work is how I see it in my head, and speaks to me and tells a story to the viewer.

I take commissions for both botanical watercolours and oil portraits.