Journeywoman

This painting, currently on the easel in my Ballarat studio, has been a particular challenge. I'm still up for it, despite being a mass of insecurities about my work (which, paradoxically, seem to increase with age and experience). What is most satisfying about this series is how much I’m learning along the way. Speaking of paradoxes, one crucial thing I’ve already learned is that for some journeys, you actually need to stay put.

That isn’t to say my travelling days are over. It won’t be for a while yet, but return journeys to London, New York, Paris and Berlin are firmly in my sights. Without the formative times I spent in those places, and others, this work wouldn’t exist. I wonder if I’d even be an artist. After all, it’s a calling that has more extreme ups, downs, twists and turns than the roller coaster at Luna Park in my hometown, St. Kilda.

Geographically speaking, Ballarat may not be so very far from there. But in other ways, I’ve come a long way (not far enough, admittedly, but further, perhaps, than I tend to give myself credit for). I still have miles to go before I sleep. At present, however, here and now is precisely where I need to be. At times some of my protagonists' more labyrinthine locks seem like convoluted maps, strewn with secret pathways and not a few dead ends. It’s been a while since I last visited Hampton Court Palace, but I reckon that after this series, navigating its famous maze will be a cinch.