Homeward, the Long Way
August 11, 2026
Six weeks, four countries, one full camera. The gate at Charles de Gaulle, a plane pointed at Istanbul, and the long hop home to the studio. Last post from the road.
Like with most artists, art has always been part of my life. At the end of high school, you go into a small room and are given a careers book and told: “go through it and find out what you want to do with your life”. Now, this is a big fat book, yet the art career section gave me a total of two options.
Yes, the very moment that helps hold our lives and our sanity together, makes us feel alive, keeps it interesting and documents the love, hate and drama in our lives, is only worthy of a glance. The choices are Commercial artist or Inbetweener.
My first serious step into the art world was through commissioned portraits (in chalk pastel) from the age of 17 to support my BA in Graphic Design course at Charles Sturt University.
Yep, 17, on my own, and ready for nothing. Uni was exciting, eye-opening, and a giant step into life.
I remember B&S Balls, hot hikes over the hill for classes, and so many people going in different directions.
However, presentation, composition, photography, and the art of connotations were the winners of my takeaway.
I didn’t have an epiphany or a grand idea…. I had Mum. Noticing how I bounced around dead-end jobs, she had her eye out, because that’s what mums do. I received a letter in the mail, expecting the usual talk of the weather and whats had for dinner in scriptwriting that always needs deciphering. But there, as I opened the neatly folded pieces of paper, was a roughly ripped newspaper article from the Sydney Morning Herald. “Inbetweeners wanted, training included, Walt Disney TV Animation Australia!”
Dodging the graduation ceremony to head straight for the big smoke, city lights, fun town, land of unlimited possibilities….Sydney. I was actually born in Sydney, so it kind of felt like coming home. I just wish the city was as happy to see me; graphic design jobs were scarce; now what?
Inbetweening came easy, and the light-hearted characters lifted my subject focus to humorous, and quirky creatures of a much softer spirit in pencil. Having no formal training in visual art, I was able to refine my drawing skills through my 6 years of drawing for Walt Disney Australia. The production line and repetitive work were great for developing strength in my drawing stroke.
From here, my drawing style virtually exploded into an exploration of the imagination and how mood and emotion can be expressed more freely without being confined to structured reality. Fantasy
As life rolled on, kids were born, and art became a background memory. We moved to Brisbane, where I said I would never go…too hot, but it somehow felt right. As the kids and managerie grew together, so did my itch to create again. I floundered around a bit, selling my photography and some fantasy artworks but nothing really took with me. Everything I drew seemed to have an involuntary cartoon feel, and the small country town I resided in was not grasping the fantasy world ….I know.
Looking for some inspiration, I went through my old art folder from university and found some ink sketches I had done for a graphics project. I purchased a lot of books over the years, usually pretty, but I found two artists books that have always stuck with me thought. The crazy ink splatter of Ralf Steadman in “The Big I Am” and the simplicity of Mary McQueen’s simplistic animal drawings. While at uni, I played with ink and developed a sweeping style, I suppose almost by accident, as I experimented with simplicity and splashes of ink.
It was these drawings that I took to the next market, and that was that. They all sold on the first day…so I did up some more…and they sold straight away….
1. I avoided In-betweening because I didn’t want to draw cartoons.
2. I created my unique ink style while at uni, inspired by books I collected from cheap shops because I was too poor of a student to entertain myself.
3. I ended up doing the inbetweening that I conciously decided not to do earlier and improved my drawing style while doing so.
4. The distraction of family life took me away from what I love doing, but in doing so, helped me develop a softness or emotional treatment of the subjects I now draw.
5. The Cartoon feel from Disney days has added a playful, warm feel to my drawings.
6. Finally, the graphic design course, though it did not give me the career I thought it would, allowed me to market myself and present my work professionally and efficiently.
Six weeks, four countries, one full camera. The gate at Charles de Gaulle, a plane pointed at Istanbul, and the long hop home to the studio. Last post from the road.
Monday’s list said one word: Sennelier. The paint shop on the quay that has been serving artists since 1887. On the way there the Left Bank gave me green glass bubbles, a wall of steel cyclists, and an entire film crew in the Palais-Royal.
Last full day in Paris, so I got up before Paris did. Notre-Dame at six in the morning, an empty square, and the discovery that I was not actually first. The locals were already doing their rounds.
Six weeks, four countries, one full camera. The gate at Charles de Gaulle, a plane pointed at Istanbul, and the long hop home to the studio. Last post from the road.
Monday’s list said one word: Sennelier. The paint shop on the quay that has been serving artists since 1887. On the way there the Left Bank gave me green glass bubbles, a wall of steel cyclists, and an entire film crew in the Palais-Royal.
Last full day in Paris, so I got up before Paris did. Notre-Dame at six in the morning, an empty square, and the discovery that I was not actually first. The locals were already doing their rounds.