As a family, we were often outdoors exploring the beautiful natural environment of the Atherton Tablelands where I was born. My parents taught me the joy of working with one’s own hands and being creative. Art was a subject I enjoyed at school but never pursued, and I entered the workforce as a nurse. Feeling very homesick living in the nurses’ quarters, a sterile brick building in the centre of busy Brisbane, I purchased a book of Australian landscape paintings. I admired the paintings of the early Australian artists, especially Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin, Hans Heysen and E Phillips Fox.
In 1998, as a busy mother of four children, I began to take an interest in fine art, commencing a 6-week recreational TAFE course on drawing for beginners,…