I'm a Melbourne-based contemporary artist working primarily in oils, acrylics, and mixed media to explore the interior landscapes we all carry—the emotional weight of memory, the objects that become vessels for meaning, and the quiet negotiations we have with ourselves.

My work asks: What do we bottle up? What do we carry? What happens when we slow down enough to see the depth in ordinary things?

Background & Practice

After two decades in corporate technology, management consulting, and startups, I redirected my life toward art—not as an escape, but as a return to a long-neglected part of myself and a more honest way of examining what it means to be human. I'm currently completing a Diploma of Visual Arts while maintaining an active studio practice at Northcote Art Studios in Melbourne's inner north.

I studied under Melbourne artist Jacqui Stockdale, whose mentorship shaped my approach to portraiture and emotional presence in paint. My work has been exhibited at Incube8r Gallery and through Gallery Unbound, and I've developed cohesive bodies of work including the "Bottled Up" series, which explores emotional restraint through still life.

Artistic Approach

I'm drawn to the things we don't say—the emotions we suppress, the memories we hold in objects, the private negotiations between who we are and who we present ourselves to be, times of transition and transformation. Whether I'm painting portraits, still life, or creating conceptual installations, I'm interested in slowing viewers down, inviting them into a moment of presence and reflection.

My portraits prioritise emotional truth over photographic accuracy. I want to capture something essential about a person—the quality of their attention, the weight they carry, the thing that makes them them.

My still life, commemorative, and conceptual work all share a fascination with how ordinary objects become loaded with meaning. A carafe that sat in my father's fridge becomes a meditation on emotional restraint (Bottled Up). A childhood suitcase holds decades of learned patterns (Baggage). Clay post-it notes transform temporary affirmations into permanent sculptural truth (Note to Self). I work across painting, mixed media, installation, and artist books—whatever medium best serves the idea. Recent projects have explored self-talk and transformation, cultural presence and memory (No Photography Allowed), and the complex inheritance we carry forward from our early lives.

From Corporate to Canvas

My background in technology and consulting informs my art practice in unexpected ways. I understand systems, patterns, and the infrastructure beneath visible behaviour—whether in organisations or in human psychology. That analytical lens, combined with a willingness to sit with uncomfortable emotional truth, shapes how I approach every painting.

I've navigated separation, rebuilt my sense of self, and learned that the stories we tell ourselves matter more than we realise. That personal transformation shows up in my work—not as therapy, but as an invitation to others to examine their own interior landscapes with curiosity rather than judgement.

Studio & Mentoring

I maintain a working studio at Northcote Art Studios where I create commissioned work, develop new series, and occasionally host studio visits. I'm available for commissioned portraits, commemorative pieces, pet portraits, and conceptual design projects.

Having navigated the transition from corporate leadership to creative practice, I mentor women who are exploring their own creative development—particularly those in corporate environments seeking to reconnect with artistic expression. If you're curious about starting or rekindling a creative practice, reach out for a conversation.

I also write Artist Field Notes, a Substack newsletter where I share my creative process, the ideas I'm exploring, and what I'm learning about making art that matters.

The Work That Moves Me

I'm not interested in making pretty things. I'm interested in making true things—work that gives people permission to feel what they feel, remember what matters, and recognise themselves in the mirror. Whether that's through a portrait that captures someone's essential quality, a still life that honours what we've lost, or a conceptual piece that asks uncomfortable questions about how we live.

At its core, my practice is about transformation—not just my own, but the potential for art to shift how we see ourselves and the world around us.

Exhibitions

• 2025 - Bottled Up - solo show at Gallery Unbound

• 2024-25 - Baggage - selected for Emerging Artists Summer Exhibition at Quadrant Gallery

• 2024 - Blood Oranges - group show, Christmas Salon, Victorian Artists Society

• 2021 - Isolation State - group show, Almost Solo at Incube8r Gallery

• 2021 - Small Works - group show at SandBox Studios

• 2021 - Fifty Squared - group show at Brunswick St Gallery

• 2020 - Postcard Show - group show at Linden New Art

Media

Vance Joy - “How the music industry’s greatest resurgence reached the Young Rich list” AFR magazine, October 26, 2022.