Profile

I am a Kapiti Coast based Scottish/Kiwi painter and art tutor. I began painting seriously 25 years ago, moving from a background in psychology, social work and management training to art, coinciding with my move to New Zealand.

Over this time, I gained an Advanced Diploma in Art and Creativity and certification from the USA based GOLDEN Artist Colors to work as a GOLDEN Artist Educator (independent contractor). I worked with GOLDEN for 15 years until they ended their Artist Educator programme in July 2025. As well as my product training for this role, I gained extensive experience of using their products and running workshops. My studio remains well equipped with all the latest in acrylic and watercolour paints and products.

My home and studio are located in Waikanae, on the beautiful Kapiti Coast of New Zealand. I have established a programme of topic based workshops for all abilities as well as The Artist Sessions, weekly classes for experienced artists. When I lived in Wellington I worked as a tutor at Pablos Art Studios for seven years. During my time at Pablos, I ran weekly outreach art workshops at the Forensic Psychiatric Rehabilitation facility in Porirua. My teaching and painting methods have been featured on NZTV and art magazines, and images of my work illustrate a series of 12 NZ Law text books.

The materiality of paint is at the heart of my work. This has resulted in four very different processes which dominate my creativity. The earlier works are asemic paintings using a subtractive technique (‘text’ paintings) and works that use bands of acrylic skins for knotting and weaving (‘drag’ paintings). More recently, I have used acrylic skins in eggshell inlay work (inspired by traditional Vietnamese lacquer paintings) and have also developed some innovative ways of painting with acrylic on Yupo paper. My contemporary drawings with graphite and Chinese ink on Yupo have been selected six times as finalists in New Zealand’s prestigious Parkin Drawing Prize and they have also taken me to the finals of the Wallace Art Awards and traveling exhibition for 2020/2021. I received a High Commendation award in 2024 for my Parkin piece.