My Creative Process

My creative process has changed a lot over the years. As I have grown more confident with my painting and trust myself more, it has become easier and I know where to find the inspiration I need.

I love photography, and as a landscape painter, I take photos of anything that inspires me (often now just with my iPhone). A close-up of a eucalyptus tree, a glimpse of mist over the mountain, the patterns in water and sand.

I use photos as a loose starting point for my work. While my paintings are centred around the colours of Tasmania, I also want to capture what Tasmania feels like. Its many moods and emotions, how the light and sky change, and this comes from within. A fleeting feeling I had while standing on a beach in winter, immersed in solitude.

So the photos provide only a combination of colours for me, a moment from a place that feels authentically Tasmanian to me. From there, I go in a different direction and let it take me wherever it wants to go. The original photo quickly becomes unrecognisable from the finished piece.

The colours and textures now become the focal point, an abstract landscape or seascape with a mention of a horizon and a cloudy, Tasmanian sky.

The finished piece reminds the viewer of what it feels like to be in Tasmania. Its colours come together on the canvas to remind us how lucky we are to either visit or live in this spectacular corner of the world.