My paintings usually begin with an encounter with nature.

I head outside for a walk most days with my dog Asha.  Opening myself to the Sacred Wild, I wander along the shorelines and bush tracks around my home.

Something always catches my attention - a feather, a shell, green growth on a gnarled old pohutukawa branch.

My contemplative practice has taught me to notice what I notice and let it be my teacher.  To commune with nature and observe closely.

As I stay with what draws me, invariably there is some deeper wisdom on offer that speaks to what’s happening in my life and inner world. 

Like the seedpods that kept appearing on my walk up the Mangamangaroa ridgeline.

Decay. Potential. Symbols of raw beauty and hope in a time of grief and change.

Like the rain-washed branches and stones that spoke to me when I was deeply immersed in Mary Oliver’s poetry.

Instructions for living a life¹:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

I don’t always have immediate insights about what has touched me – just a hunch of something sacred and profound that needs to be expressed with brush, colour, water, paper.

Back in my art studio I play and I learn.

What the Sacred Wild has to teach me.