As a child I was always drawing and was that kid in class, at Bentleigh West State School, whose art work was admired by classmates. At Bentleigh High School I studied Art until year 10, but coming from a working class family in the southern suburbs of Melbourne, Art was thought of as a subject with no future. I was destined to leave school and take up a trade apprenticeship. Somehow I managed to complete year 12 and gain an Education Department Studentship which resulted in me studying Economics and Accounting at Monash, even though I had no background in those subjects at school, leading to B. Economics, Dip. Ed (Monash) and B. Ed (La Trobe).
After the experiences of teaching, travelling overseas and then house renovating in Melbourne, I, together with my wife, Bron and our young son, Michael, moved to Kinglake. Then, after the birth of our daughter, Karen, we moved to Steels Creek, in the Yarra Valley. It was here that I renewed my interest in Art and started to draw and paint again. One of our neighbours and friend was Dudley Drew, the accomplished traditional artist. Dudley, who couldn’t say a bad word about anyone or anything, encouraged me to work in pastel before oil and I rapidly developed a collection of still life pieces and traditional landscapes. Through this, I became heavily involved in the establishment of The Yarra Glen Art Show, where, to my delight, I sold my first painting.
From that beginning, I went on to hold a number of solo exhibitions in the Yarra Valley. The Art Scene was looking good until Black Saturday intervened and we moved to Inverloch after being burnt out. There, I set up Studio 40 at the end of 2009.
I have exhibited locally, as well as in Melbourne. Like my life, my art has taken many directions. Having never had any formal training, I am not controlled by convention, and everything I do is a learning experience. Often the results are what I was aiming for, other times they are total disasters.
I often wonder where I would be today if I had studied art instead of economics; maybe at the same point with less life experience. Who knows?
