COMING – 1 to 14 OCTOBER 2026 – NEW EXHIBITION – ‘ ‘AUSTRALIA WILD’ AT – The Garden gallery, Sydney Botanic Garden, 10 – 4 pm Free entry

 Forty-Four Years of Dirt, Paint, and Devotion: Why I Still Chase the Wild

As an artist, I am happily, hopelessly addicted. For 44 years, my life has been dictated by light, weather, and the sensory overload of the Australian bush. From my studio in Pearl Beach—hemmed in by the sandstone face of Mount Ettalong, the ancient trees of the local Arboretum, and the crashing Pacific—nature doesn’t just invite inspiration; it demands it.

My upcoming exhibition, Australia Wild, opening at The Garden Gallery inside the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, on October 1st, is the culmination of this lifelong obsession. It features tree-scapes of the Central Coast—the contorted, muscular limbs of angophoras, towering gums, explosive gymea lilies, and delicate flannel flowers—juxtaposed against raw, dust-caked outback canvases painted on site during three massive, nomadic loops around Australia with husband John, my easel strapped to my camping gear and Johns bike on top of our vehicle.

Painting en plein air (in the open air) with oils or experimenting with ancient molten encaustic wax isn’t a passive hobby; it is a full-contact sport. It means fighting the wind to keep a canvas standing, picking desert flies out of wet oil paint, and watching the shadows change faster than your brush can move.
This October marks a deeply personal milestone for me. I am celebrating an unbroken 19-year tradition of exhibiting within the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. I started under the historic glass of The Palm House back in 2008, and now this year marks my third inside The Garden Gallery.