For as long as I can remember I’ve enjoyed painting and drawing, and though my aim as a teen was to become a writer I knew there wasn’t much money to be made in that profession so I pursued an education and employment in visual art. My first jobs were in design, both book and promotional, and in 1995 I took the leap into self-employment as an illustrator.

At the same time I began volunteering as Art Director for Aurealis magazine and taking on the occasional SF commission. A few of my pieces were nominated for awards, and one magazine cover won Best Professional Artwork of 2003.

A few years before, I had started attending Carol Boothman’s workshops, and they became a much-needed regular excuse to paint out of inspiration rather than income. When I did begin to make an income from writing in the mid 00s I shut down the illustration business, but kept going to the workshops.

Under Carol’s guidance I began to concentrate on portraiture: mostly people but also little pet portraits. The best moment that came from this was having a portrait long-listed for the Moran Prize.

In 2019 I decided to take a long break from writing for health reasons, and with the extra time more of my focus has turned to art. In October 2021 I set out to create an artwork every day for a year – the Daily Art Challenge. I’m now in a phase of exploration, seeing where whim and discovery takes me.