I think I like painting portraits more than anything else. There is a time when you see your subject looking back at you and you think “Ah! There you are!”

The thing about portraits is that they are very personal. Unless you know the person you are unlikely to want to hang them on your wall. The portrait artist needs to be commissioned to do portraits.

Here are some portraits that I have done. These people are all special to me so I love having them hang out with me.

If you would like to have a portrait of a favourite person please get in touch with me.

This first one is of my mum. It was my first attempt. As an art work it has its faults. However that is my mum! Those are her eyes looking right at me.

This portrait is of Mark Walton. He is a virtuoso clarinet player and composer, and a wonderful music teacher. He received the Order of Australia Medal for his service to music in schools, particularly in rural areas.

He heads the Cafe Latte Orchestra of which I am a member. He gathers us (mostly oldies) from all over Australia and New Zealand, writes music for us, workshops us and often has us give a concert.

This is Sita. In 2010 I volunteered to teach Indian women and girls English and computer skills in the slums of Jaipur. Unable to read or write in their own language they struggled with the fine motor skills necessary to form the letters of the English alphabet. What I learnt was that they were deeply moral, devoted to their children’s education and keen to learn themselves. Sita was top of the little class that squatted on the concrete floor of our tiny bunker-like classroom.

This is my friend June. I knew her for about 40 years, so although this was from a photo that I did not take (thankyou to June’s daughter) this was a face I knew and loved well. June was in her 90s when this photo was taken. She passed away before I finished painting and I felt that she was guiding my brush from the other side.

I can proudly tell you that this painting was selected as a finalist for the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.

This is Kayla. She is my older sister’s first grandchild. Who wouldn’t want to paint her with her big eyes and smile and beautiful golden locks? She is all grown up now and has recently become a registered nurse.

I suppose a self portrait is inevitable. It is hard to analyse why I painted myself to look like this. For the record my eyes are the same colour. I’ll leave this for others to interpret.

This is Tanya, another influential person in my life. She is an art teacher and was the first person to encourage me to pursue studies in art. I was in my mid fifties at the time. This picture hung in the Glen Innes art gallery as an entrant in the Glen Archies, much to Tanya’s embarrassment. I meant it as a tribute to a warm hearted and generous person.

This is Zara, my son’s wife. I was so thrilled to have this beautiful, talented girl become part of my family that I just had to paint her, full of joy on her wedding day and also overcome with emotion as my son read his wedding vows.

This is me again. I painted this in January of this year, 2026 but it is from my time in Jaipur 16 years ago. I was inspired to do another self portrait after watching “Portrait Artist of the Year” which had its first season last year.

Me again. this is an old one that I hid away for years. It is done in pastels. i don’t dilike it so much now.

Alan Rickman as Snape in the Harry Potter movies. This one is a watercolour where I practised lifting the colour off as well as adding it on.

This is just a small watercolour. To me it captures my sister Kate. It is one of many small paintings that she and I did as a daily exercise during 2 years of Covid.