Though I’ve briefly studied art at Julian Ashton Art School and TAFE, I think of myself more as a self-taught artist. My early studies allowed an insight to the foundations and practice of drawing but it was ongoing experimentation that led me to my current media, pyrography and natural pigments.

Pyrography is the practice of burning an image onto a surface, using specially designed tools. I work mostly on paper but I also enjoy working with wood. The pigments I use are all handmade from natural materials, most of which I collect from the bush near my home, the roadside, the garden and sometimes even the kitchen. Some of my favourite raw materials include ochres, sap, flowers, bark, leaves, coffee beans and berries. Part of my processing technique is to add natural mordants (fixatives), preservatives and binding substances.

I’ve been a practicing artist for 15 years now and my work has of course changed a lot over this time. The first few years were spent obsessively trying to master realism, from photorealism to surrealism. One thing that has remained fairly constant is my subject matter; my work is usually about the intricacies of nature and our place in it.