I was born in Canada in 1939 and accidentally immigrated to Australia in 1970 when Customs stamped my passport “Permanent Resident” even though I had as yet not actually trod the wide brown land.

My original intention had been to work for a while, buy a boat and sail back to British Columbia. But now I felt so welcome that I stayed, married an Italian beauty, taught English to those who spoke `strines and eventually, settled in Armidale, NSW. I have doodled and doddled a good deal throughout life, written a few short stories one naïve novel and began painting ‘seriously’ some years ago.

My Art
I am a self-taught ‘artist’, for better or worse, and have learned how to create pictures in a way that works for me. I prefer painting people rather than landscape and my paintings usually have a narrative quality because I like to tell stories – abstract art baffles me in spite of beautiful things sometimes resultant – useful as background perhaps but what other purpose it serves is beyond my ken. Art, I believe, should first give you pleasure then something to think about.

I frequently work on mdf board because I enjoy the composite nature of that material to which I apply paint in thin layers, building my pictures slowly and ensuring that the board itself remains a major element in the finished work.

Awards:
Second Prize: 2022 Summer Show – Audition – acrylic on board
Second Prize: 2021 Summer Show – Par, Of Course – acrylic on board
Third Prize: 2020 Summer Show – Ring Home Soon – acrylic on board