a rather long bio...

.I was born in Cornwall and grew up running a little wild on Kangaroo Island — a childhood of bush tracks, rock pools, deserted homesteads and long days exploring until dusk. That early immersion in space, colour and freedom shaped the way I see the world and still guides my painting today.

Although I studied at the South Australian School of Art, life took me on a different path for many years. I travelled widely, lived in London and on a Greek island, spent time in Tasmania, raised a family and built a successful career in management consulting. But the pull to paint never left.

In 2000, newly single and ready to commit fully to my practice, I moved to Sydney and took up painting seriously for the first time. A studio in Newtown led to exhibitions with Rushcutters Bay Gallery, and later solo shows in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

A small studio-gallery in Rozelle unexpectedly grew into Kate Owen Gallery, a major Indigenous art space representing artists from remote Aboriginal communities. The gallery became an extraordinary chapter of discovery, travel and learning — but it eventually took over every spare moment, leaving little time for my own work.

In 2013, I sold the gallery and shifted to a slower life of painting and travel, first in Hobart and now in Noosaville, where I’ve finally found a generous new studio on Gateway Drive. Here, I paint with the same instinctive curiosity I had as a child, using bold colour and expressive mark-making to capture the feeling of landscape, movement and memory.