I enjoy the exploration of the plant as a botanically accurate representation but am am increasingly drawn to simplifying images, trying to work out what it is about a plant that draws me to it. Consequently I have been exploring the use of various kinds of appropriate backgrounds and placing a plant in its context.Since I live in the Dandenong Ranges, the location itself continues to inspire and this has also begun to include the fauna of the Hills. The Amanita muscaria or Fly Agaric was inspired by the fungus which appear in the Dandenong Ranges every autumn. In this painting while it is a very familiar fungus it remains captivating in its brilliance of colour. I began this style of painting with very traditional botanical representations and my work is in collections throughout Australia, in the USA and in the National Herbarium in Victoria. Images of my paintings have also been used to promote Botanical Art exhibitions in Melbourne and Canberra. The “Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens “ in Melbourne have also selected my images for their Christmas cards and inclusion in their calendars. I have also been a finalist , three times, in the Adelaide Museum’s ‘Waterhouse Natural History Prize” |