Most people I have met that enjoy art; also like to know something about the artist. With a web site, I think it is very important to have a personal dimension for the viewer, so here is a 'little' about my life.

I was born in Inverell, a fairly small country town in New South Wales, Australia. I moved to New Zealand with my mother and brother when I was two years old. We lived in a fairly poor area of the North Island called Porirua, where my mother tried to scrape together a living in unskilled work. My memories of New Zealand were mixed. I guess that is where I first learnt about the harshness of life and the rawness of humanity. We moved very suddenly back to Australia when I was about 9 years old. For a while we lived in the working class area of Sydney. By now my mother had found a partner and had had another child. After a particularly difficult time with this addictive partner my mother separated from him and went to work in the country. We joined her a little later on.

It was in the country that I first fell in love with nature and solitude. It was a new experience and although there was still turmoil in life, I had found a sanctuary that I would return to many times in my life. Life for my mother, however, with three young children turned out to be too difficult, and she left. At the age of eleven I became a 'ward of the state' and was placed in a foster home. I was very lucky to eventually meet two very special foster parents, who opened a new world to me of art, books, music and a gentler side of life. I lived with them for a few years before I was placed with my natural father who I had never met.

The next stage of my life was predominantly spent at a catholic boarding school, where I was exposed to spirituality. When I graduated and left for university, I had a healthy interest in things spiritual and human nature. I decided to study psychology and put my past experiences to good use. I studied for six years, working in the welfare field alongside studying. Whilst I was working with some kids in a detention centre, I discovered art. This was to change my life.

Art had become a seed that had sprouted inside me. During a holiday in Singapore I was presented with an opportunity to pursue my art. After much contemplation, a lot of fear and reading the "alchemist", I decided to seize the opportunity. In 1996, with nothing in the bank and increasing debts but lots of support from friends, I held my first exhibition. The day of the opening, a review of my works was published in the paper - it was a bad review! I was devastated and thought that perhaps I had been crazy to make this decision after all. But I had to continue, as there was no turning back. That night the exhibition opened, and almost 500 people turned up to see my work! I sold nearly 80% of the works. The feedback was wonderful and I was over the moon.

I guess you'd say I haven't looked back since. I stayed in Singapore for five more years, and learnt a great deal more about spirituality and humanity. I now live in Munich, Germany and continue to learn, about the world around me and myself. More importantly I continue to follow my dream.