Big Warm Smiles
The world has always held a delicate duality for me: breathtaking wonder interwoven with the sharp edges of reality. Much like yesterday, when I fell off the trampoline. A grown woman together with her inner child, bounces towards the treetops, pretending to fly. Next thing, I was sprawled on the grass, leaves clinging to the wool of my cardigan and tangled in my hair. The ground rushed up with a surprising suddenness that my four decades had somehow failed to anticipate, and a grunt escaped me as my breath left in a whoosh. My ten-year-old daughter watched with raised brows. "What are you doing?" she asked.
Just doing life. The magnificent, heartbreaking kind. Even in the undignified tumble, I was embracing this extraordinary existence. This dance between wonder and awareness has always been my story. I move through the world quietly, finding meaning in subtle moments: the whisper of wind against skin, the delicate weight of a butterfly choosing my forearm as its momentary perch.
For me, a rich life isn't measured in achievements but in moonlit walks and having a familiarity of the secret symphonies beneath oceans. It's about catching the conversations hidden between spoken words and noticing the gentle nuances easily missed. Wild, gentle, observant, and thought-filled – from this place illustrations and stories emerge. Collage is the sanctuary that frees me from the constraints of perfection-driven realism, and I create picture books for adults because I believe in their power to hold, accompany, and guide us through shadows that we might otherwise avoid.
I fall off trampolines because curiosity draws me up there.
Two of my favourite photographs from our nomadic life travelling around Australia in a retro caravan for one year.
Quick Facts
I'm a self-taught mixed media illustrator who loves the tactile interplay of acrylic paint, coloured pencils, water-soluble crayon, and paper collage.
The Fruit of Dragons was illustrated using digital pencil and gouache brushes.
I write picture books for adults – stories that, while not off-limits to kids, explore themes best savoured with a bit of life under your belt.
My journey as a visual creator spans twenty-three years, encompassing graphic design and photography.
Career highlights include launching the stationery brands Boots Paper and Dear Frankie, photographing prominent Australian actors for magazines, and contributing as a guest 'Design Expert' in Home Beautiful magazine.
Having lived in Melbourne and rural Victoria until the age of 35, my life took an exciting turn in 2017. A year-long Australian adventure with my husband and our then three-year-old daughter in a retro caravan brought us through the Atherton Tablelands. We were immediately captivated by its forest-covered mountains and have happily lived here ever since.
I count among my greatest achievements the thriving, diverse food forest I've created on our urban block, my 33-year journey of living with Type 1 Diabetes (navigating six insulin injections per day), the unconditional love I found in my husband, parenting an old-soul, and above all, the courage I possess to be vulnerable.