“I am a Western Australian figurative artist and work across a wide range of subjects from desert landscapes to portraits. I often take inspiration from inland Western Australia and West Australian stories, people and history. I like to suggest a narrative in my work.

I love sketching the initial idea and then seeing it completed in paint. When I am painting I am immersed in the scene I am creating. I don’t think of the things I put in the painting as shapes, but as real things. It is like an extreme form of daydreaming where I get to place the characters and scenery as I choose. There is often a narrative element to my painting and I am in the story while I am painting it.

My usual method is that I get an idea for a painting, sketch it before I can forget it, and then collect supporting material for the idea (photos, sketches etc.). I then work up a composition I am happy with and loosely sketch it up on the canvas. Sometimes I will diverge from the original vision as another idea seems better, but most often the work is close to the original sketch. For portraits, I want to capture something that expresses something intrinsic to the subject.

I paint more portraits now and I have worked occasionally in assemblage for the last six years. My work often explores themes of loneliness, isolation, and perseverance. Occasionally I will create a work as a social comment. I also like to capture that perfect happy still moment – this is typical of my dog beach paintings.” I paint a wide variety of subject matter as many things are interesting and I’d get bored if I stuck with the one thing.