Once again symbolism is the main objective with my work, yet unlike the still life where objects tell the story, graffiti covered gums and bamboo take their place. Carved quotes, dates and names give a unique insight and story into the individual or theme I’ve chosen to dedicate the paintings to. During my time in Arnhem Land spent many hours with painters and carvers, they would tell me the stories with each symbol, then while in university studied persion art and story telling through both heavily infuenced my work, espeically in the early days of my art.

My earlier works of Graffiti Bamboo  was simply to dedicate a series to my rich textural backgrounds which i loved to create.   Using a pallet knife I would create a thick impasto pattern,  once dry I’d apply a  thin transparent colour that i’d scrap back creating a 3 dimensional element to the background. This process  has been  a big  part of my work since the early beginnings and still used today on all of my landscapes and even taking part in my current portraits.  The  Grafitti Bamboo series was born when living right next door to the botanical gardens in Melbourne.  Amongst the lush foliage and flowers were large clusters of bamboo, upon entering deeper into the maze of sticks, names and quotes would be etched into the bamboo.  The bamboo gave me the perfect  linear form to be placed on top of the background whilst not dominating the painting nor competing with the background which i wanted to shine..  Once moving to the bush in Central Victoria i became attracted to the Gum Trees, so my bamboo forms were replaced by gums., still stylised and riddled with Graffiti to tell the story.

Recently my works have taken a more visceral form, as i take landscape to a new level, once i crate my textural background i allow the thin layers of transparent paint to create it’s own pattern .  I have been more involved with the gum trees, which have a more sensual liner form, and my love for the Australian. Each gum is etched with names; dates and quotes depicting the history from where the gum came.