About
I am a self taught Pastel Artist and I work in realism which is recognizable in my work, taking something ordinary and transforming it into something unique and to a whole other level, improving with detailed precision, energy and colour.
Pastel Society of Victoria, Australia
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Pastel Society of Australia
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Paint my Photo
Affiliations
Art Shows / Awards
2021 PSVA Annual Art Show
Margaret Lourey Award
'Rhodondendron Glory'
Judge: Antionette Blyth
2021 Paint My Photo
Pastel Artist of the Year
As a young girl growing up in rural Victoria, Australia, I loved to draw. I discovered oil paints whilst still at school and that was when I fell in love with the Australian bush. As a child I would often take off on my own, walking for miles through the hillsides that surrounded our house, admiring the trees and various shades of grasslands in the ever changing seasons.
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I had a long break of more than 30 years from any art and dedicated my time to work and my children. After retiring in 2018 due to a lengthy illness I wondered what I would do with myself to fill the void. This was when I discovered pastels, remembering a day years earlier when viewing a very large pastel painting in Beechworth near to where I live now and how I was drawn to the vibrancy and smooth texture but which looked just like an oil painting.
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After testing out cheap pastels and paper which did not do what I wanted I ventured into Pan Pastels and I immediately fell in love with the multitude of colour variaions, I adapted to working with brushes (mainly make-up brushes), no messy fingers and very little dust falling off the paper, working in a tradition much like oil paints. Pan Pastels have minimal binder and fillers, resulting in rich, ultra soft and super-blendable colours loaded with the finest quality artists' pigments which have excellent lightfastness and are fully erasable. I also use the very best quality soft pastels, pastel pencils and Pastelmat my pastel paper of choice.
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Upon joining an online group "Paint My Photo" I won several challenges and in 2021 was judged PMP Pastel Artist of the Year, a huge honour. Also in 2021 I won my first art award with the Pastel Society of Victoria Australia, the Margaret Lourey Award an exciting and unexpected win this early in my art journey.
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In 2021 I studied and completed several portraits in fantasy and children. I have no favourite subject and am happy working on anything that inspires me such as Still Life including flowers/botanical, Portraits, Fantasy art, Landscapes and Seascapes.
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