However, I’ve been encouraged by the success of my first exhibition, held in Kalgoorlie in May 2021. That event was held with my long-time tutor and friend, Janet Bartle, who has been painting the Goldfields landscapes for years. Her work has found homes in all parts of the world.

I started painting in 1994, as an outcome of a “things I want to have tried before it’s too late” revelation. The euphoric feeling of having enrolled in a watercolour course at what was then Kalgoorlie College will remain with me forever – and I hadn’t even bought brushes! Change brings about a mixture of discomfort and excitement….

(In fact, as I prepare to launch this website, that daunting feeling returns.)

Janet Bartle was our first teacher and the course included charcoal drawing, watercolour, life drawing and still life. When Curtin University took over the college and, in its dubious wisdom, closed all community-based courses, we had to find a new home. Janet offered to continue, and we used the Golden Mile Art Exhibition Group’s gallery in the upstairs of the wonderful Boulder Town Hall. It was far less formal than the college courses and I am sure that the red wine assisted in loosening the creative juices.

Departing Kalgoorlie in 2000 led to my art production taking a back seat for some years, until my return in 2017. Janet, now working from her studio at the back of her home, eagerly welcomed me back and this led to “Wednesdays at Janet’s”, the name of our exhibition.