February 2008

Dear Visitor,

Welcome to my website. It’s been a while since my last update. I hope you enjoy browsing the pages, some updated, and some new. For interest, I’ve added some older paintings from exhibitions in both New Jersey and Sydney.

Although there isn’t a large amount of new artwork with this update, please understand that I’ve been very busy with my academic life. The Green Man work (Master of Creative Arts Degree) is complete as of October 2007. Accordingly, as I find a publisher for Green Man Resurrected, I am also embarking on a new journey. It was through the Green Man exhibition of paintings that a most unusual opportunity surfaced for me. On the basis of the ideas presented, I was offered a position tutoring a first year environmental science course at the University of the Sunshine Coast, where I have been teaching design principles since 2002. My work in this exciting new field continues as I have just been awarded a Research Fellowship which will culminate in 2010 with a PhD in Environmental Science Education.

More than one person has questioned my new career direction, as I suppose switching from the visual arts to science seems strange to some people. However, it is quite logical to me. After all it was Nature, first and foremost, that inspired me to paint on that dead end street in Union Beach. There I was, safely tucked away, high up in my grandparents’ weeping willow tree, box of paints and canvas paper in tow. I remember the smell of the concord grapes wafting up as they ripened in the warm, clean, air of 1969 New Jersey. Mother Earth at her finest! Every window-sill-dried seed planted by my Father and Grandfather grew into something luscious in the Garden State’s soil. Unable to discern where nature ended and my soul began, time ceased to exist when I discovered painting in that tree. Little did I know then that those smells, sounds, sights, the very feel of that time and place, would dictate the direction of my life.

It is with great honour that I take up this new torch and run a new distance. Each semester my students are surprised at the passion and energy I bring to the teachings of Environment, Technology and Sustainability. I feel that it is important to deliver this vital subject matter with the perspective of what has already happened to places like New Jersey, especially since I now live in what many consider to be paradise.

It is heart breaking to watch what happened in my Home, Sweet Home of the past, happen again in my Home, Sweet Home of the present. Pollution, the physical manifestation of greed, is rearing its ugly, dark head around every corner here on Australia’s stunning Sunshine Coast. This Jersey Girl cannot just sit back and paint in paradise. In fact, I feel this opportunity to be a responsibility as well as an honour, as it is actually a continuation of the work I have always done, to reflect back what I see and feel of the world around me.

So, thank you for stopping by and taking the time to check out my website. Even though I won’t be spending a lot of time painting over the next few years, it would be my honour to paint on commission for you. Feel free to contact me with any queries, there are no silly questions and I love the correspondence. I just have one more thing to tell you, it’s a secret, so please, keep it to yourself! Oh, okay, you can share it with friends and family, but please, don’t tell the scientists that I work with now…

Green Man already knows what Modern Environmental Science is proving.

Love,

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