About
I paint the landscapes and wildlife around me. My media for plein air work are watercolour and pastel. For my studio works, I use mixed media on canvas. My style is dynamic, using both traditional and innovative media and techniques. Having taken an Honours degree in Natural Science (Zoology) at Saint Hilda's College, Oxford, I have always maintined an interest in natural history and this informs my art.
My most exciting years were spent in the paradise that was then the Solomon Islands, where I painted the magnificent, pristine rainforests, mangroves and coral sea. I have included a few of these works from my Solomon Islands Journals in one of the Galleries on this website. I met my husband there, in Honiara, Mike Bowman: mariner, chef, jeweller and restorer of steam locomotives. After returning to leave in Southern England and then Shetland, we eventually ended up on a strip of woodland and seasonal wetland in Humpty Doo, South East of Darwin. Well, not quite ‘ended'!
Among the many tutors, formal and informal, who have influenced me, I would like to thank (in chronological order) my Mother, Jane Worsnop (nee Ambler) who taught me; Miss Hardy at Oxford High School, William Bird and John Newberry in Oxford, various tutors at the City Literary Institute in London; Frank Haikiu in Solomon Islands, Tony Smibert and Judith White in Australia; and more recently, Dr Sarah Simblet of the Ruskin School of Art at Oxford.
I am passionate about adult education and active participation in art. I believe that we can all draw and paint, it is part of being human. I offer watercolour, pastel and drawing classes in Darwin and private tuition. Please send me an email if you would like to know more:
Exhibitions, Awards, Residencies
- Treescapes - Darwin Visual Arts - 9 -24 July 2021
https://www.offtheleash.net.au/events/view/treescapes
- Palaeo Art Prize - Flinders University Palaeontology Society 2021
- Requiem for a Landscape - Darwin Visual Arts 2019
- In the Dry - Wetland Artists - Darwin Visual Arts Association
- Waterfalls to Waves - Wetland Artists 2018 - Tactile Arts Gallery, DArwin
- Pastel Progression, Solo retrospective 2018 - DVAA Gallery, Darwin
- Top End Edge, 4 Artists from Darwin 2017 - Disorder Gallery, Sydney
- Artists at Fogg Dam, group exhibition 2016 - curator, exhibitor
- Artist at Fogg Dam residency 2015-16
- After life, Darwin Life Drawing Group exhibition 2016
- Katherine Art Prize 2015 for Kingfisher
- Bush Apple Flowers highly commended in Brisbane Art Extraveganza
- Wings - solo Exhibition at Framed, the Darwin Gallery - May 2015
- Time & Scale - Darwin Life Drawing Group Exhibition - March 2015
- Tropical Spring - pop up Exhibition at Art Decor Framers, Darwin
- Territory Wildlife Park, Artist in Residence as part of Darwin Painters en Plein Air
- Beyond the Familiar - group Exhibition of plein air paintings at Framed Gallery, February 2014
- Rights on Show - Highly Commended for How far have we come? - December 2013
- Drawn from Life - group Exhibition at DVAA September 2013
- Tropical Voices Solo Exhibition, Framed, the Darwin Gallery, March 2013
- 4 Artists 4 Nature Exhibition, CCAE Gallery, Darwin, February 2012
- Artist in Residence, Territory Wildlife Park, Darwin - July - October 2011
- Shadows & Reflections solo exhibition at Framed, the Darwin Gallery, May 2011
- Wyndham Estate Plate Competition 2010 - (a runner up - 10 Territorian Frogs)
- Leafscapes and Studies solo exhibition at Framed Gallery, Stuart Park, Darwin 2009
- Overall Prize winner, NT Threatened Species Network Art Exhibition 2009 Nature Diary
- First Prize, Wyndham Estate Plate Competition, Darwin Festival, August 2009 (Darwin Woollybut design)
- Sense of Place exhibition with three other Artisannes at Darwin Visual Arts Association in 2008
- Works selected for Topophilia - at Charles Darwin University and the virtual Gallery Second Life both in 2008
- Watercolours at Territory Colours solo exhibition in 2007
- Best Drawing, Threatened Species Network 2007 Please do not disturb
- Speargrass at Gallery Sometimes solo exhibition in 2006
- Best painting 2006: Threatened Species Network Rock Wallaby
- The Creek solo exhibition at Darwin Entertainment Centre in 2005
- Peoples Choice Award, NT Threatened Species Network 2005: Threatened Species Alphabet
- Champion Art Award and Best Traditional Painting- Royal Darwin Show 2005
- Best Contemporary Painting - Royal Darwin Show 2005
- Best Painting, NT Threatened Species Network 2005, Subdivision
- Watercolours at Port Vila solo exhibition courtesy of the Embassy of the Republic of France in 1990
- Group exhibitions in Oxford, watercolours - solo exhibitions in Honiara 1989, 1991