Biography (sort of)

One of the things that annoys me is when people say "all artists are a little crazy". They seem to place some esteem on the "artistic craziness".

Let me tell you, there is nothing positive about being even a little crazy.

I have Cyclothimia. To save you going and looking that up it's like Manic Depression, only instead of huge swings that take long periods of time it's small swings that are very short. Up and down like a seesaw. I also have Agoraphobia which means that I haven't left the house by myself in 10 years.

But this has nothing to do with my art! My art existed before my mental health problems.

What it does have to do with, however, is getting my art seen. Thank goodness for the Internet! With the help of the Internet I have artwork in most countries of the world, I have patrons in Canada, the US and Singapore. I've made some very good friends from some very wonderful art lovers, as well as other artists.

I have had art in galleries, but it's always stressful, and after a while I gave up. I show once a year, with the Schizophrenia Fellowship and I have art in the Royal Brisbane Hospital, the School of Mental Health, Pondside Music (Canada), in private collections, and on the covers of magazines and brochures.

This year I have had two of my pictures licensed to go on the cover of Moleskins, and I'm part of a research project looking at artists with mental illness.

I paint everything from portraits of people to animals, still life and landscapes, and I use every medium - graphite, oil paint, pastels, colored pencils, acrylic - but now I'm concentrating on Scratchboard.

As for the bare essentials, I'm 46, I have short curly brown hair and I look like a perfectly normal mum and nanny - except there is usually some paint on me somewhere.