I love every part of the process from producing the vessel and finding the plant to match it, to the sometimes intricate brush strokes and final touches for a lustre firing. Finally the piece takes on a personality of its own…. my work is done.

As a child growing up in a ‘magic garden’ beside the harbour in Sydney my days were filled with bush to explore, rocks to climb and water to play in. This early experience left me with a deep sense of involvement in nature.

The history of each plant, native introduced or endangered, is important to the production of my artwork. The further studies of Botany at school and later at University have kept my pencil busy. My training and teaching in Horticulture have provided a strong practical background for the knowledge needed to produce the plant images. Living on the beach of NSW’s North Coast as an adult allowed me to return to drawing and painting the world around me.

In 2007 I left my studio space in Byron Bay and moved to Tamborine Mountain. Here surrounded by fern and forest began my involvement with ceramics. I find the clear smooth surfaces of porcelain vessels more than adequate as a blank canvas for the continuing journey into nature so much a part of my present process and the sense of pattern found in the immediate environment continues to stimulate my art work.

My current work in porcelain mirrors the natural surroundings. The studio is set in the middle of an untamed garden with a backdrop of forest and towering Eucalypts. There always seems to be a new marvel offered by nature that jumps out at me, to be captured first as a sketch or drawing and then in colour on porcelain vessels.

Each subject is stylised and patterned to reflect the original plant. The illustrations are pencil drawn onto greenware porcelain and painted with stains and underglazes. After bisque firing they are refired at Cone 6, some being taken to a final lustre firing with the use of onglazes.