The Blue Chair and The Balcony, 2024

I loved this aspect of my daughter’s house in Brisbane with the light coming in through the balcony where we would sit in the late afternoons and evenings. The narrative in this still life is generated not only through the balcony but also through the blue chair in the foreground. The blue chair has been in the family since her childhood and has survived all the moves since then, so it has kept its place in the life of the family. This progression is a symbol of family continuity and cohesion.

Although my professional life has not been in the art world, I have been painting and drawing since I was a teenager. Now, painting is a full-time hobby. I paint in oils. I am largely self-taught.

My subjects are of my experience, and so they reflect the reality of my everyday life. I am absorbed in my house, my garden and my family. So I only paint familiar objects and those that mean something to me, whether it be, the particular objects in a still life, or family members. And because of my attachment to the subject matter, there is always a narrative behind the picture.

I do the drawing(s) first and try to paint accurately what I see as well as capturing the mood or feeling of the time and place.