I am a pencil artist from Tasmania, working primarily as a portraitist. I draw contemporary people in a way that draws upon mythological and iconographical motifs inherited from our classical, medieval and renaissance past. Although it is painstaking and solitary work, I believe that participating in this tradition is the best means of sustaining it.
I regularly take commissions, and I work closely with my subjects to reach a design which is to my satisfaction and theirs.
I draw on paper or pastel board, using wax pencil (sometimes called grease pencil). Wax pencil is lightfast, waterproof, non-smudging, and largely unerasable. Traditionally, it is used for marking glassware and chinaware during production, and for annotating maps. In these respects it is a documentary tool, not an instrument for self-expression. I often think of my portraits as documents, so it might not be a coincidence that I am attracted to wax pencil as a medium.
