Every piece of art is unique and it’s not as hard as you think to organise and pick the right thing. Below, I’ve written up a Christmas List for you to suit all the characters in your life:

Gift Vouchers: These are for those very particular people you know who are better off choosing their own gift but you want to give something a bit more personal than cash or a Myer or Bunnings voucher.

Portraits: For those sentimental people who love to reminisce about those special people and moments in their lives.

Murals: For those people who love to make a statement in their home.

Prints: For the people in your life who like to bring a bit of colour into their lives.

Originals: For the art lovers who want something that no one has anything quite like.

Commissioned Art Works: For those with a wild imagination. The world is your oyster! I’m very adaptable and happy to create any piece of art you have in mind.

So! There’s your Christmas sorted! Your welcome! Haha! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me.

Click here to send me a message.

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I started off doing a huge double shop front at Dogswamp Shopping Centre of a cake shop and a hat and shoe shop. It turned out so well and got such a great reaction from the public that I was asked back to the Woodvale Shopping Centre to paint another little shop front of a cheese shop. I think my favourite ended up being the cheese shop, slightly swayed by my love of cheese and all the things that accompany it. I’d also sort of honed my skills of painting buildings by this point so I knew exactly how it was going to work out.

It was a great conversation starter for the communities to start talking about what sort of shop they’d really like to open in that space and a lot more interesting than your run of the mill leasing signs that you see on hoarding around Perth.

More photos of the cute little shop fronts and other murals I’ve painted

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If portraits aren’t you’re thing I’m able to do pretty much any art commission you throw at me. It could be an acrylic on canvas painting, a watercolour, a drawing of anything you like or even a mural! I also have original paintings for sale or limited edition prints of my work. So let your imagination run wild and let’s create something really cool that they can treasure forever.

Click here to contact me about a Christmas comission

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Dog Drawing

It’s been a pretty crazy journey since I quit my job as a hairdresser and decided to throw myself into my art full time with the support of my amazing husband. I think the main thing I’ve learned is to just give things a go and see where they take you.

I started off being quite ridged and one track minded. I thought all I needed to do was paint what I love, put my pieces up in galleries, sell them and repeat. This didn’t turn out to be quite how the art world works especially in a bit of an economic down turn.

I think the first thing to shake me out of that way of thinking was when we moved up to Karratha for a few months. There was no way that I could take all my painting equipment up there and Karratha only has one art supply store which is more of a craft and knitting store. So I decided to bring some good paper and pencils and focus on my drawing. Luckily, right around that time there happened to be an art competition on in Port Hedland (a couple of hours drive from Karratha) called “A Dot On The Run” and so all my animal head drawings were born.

Mandalas Mural

My husband, being my biggest fan, was showing off all my animal head drawings to his work mates in his new office and they started asking if I would draw their animals. Also being around Christmas I put out the word on social media that that was a service I could provide. The response was huge. I thought I was going to bored in the middle of the desert for three months but I was busy drawing commissioned portraits and animal heads for an upcoming exhibition the whole time. Nothing like isolation to really help you focus.

Another lesson I learned is to talk about what you really want. I have a few mural artist friends and I’ve always thought it looked like fun but didn’t really know how to get into it professionally. I started mentioning it to friends and getting more confident about the whole idea of it. I mean…if I can paint on huge canvases that take up half my studio…why not a wall? All of a sudden people started agreeing with me and when they saw opportunities they threw my hat in the ring for me. Another lesson: Don’t be a jerk…if you try to help people out they’ll do the same…the world is what you make it.

So now I’ve painted over twenty walls and am getting ready for some other projects coming up in the future. I’m loving the diversity of my work. When I’m not painting murals on people’s wall, I’m doing commissioned portraits or paintings and even doing some sign writing which I think my Grandpa Benbrook would be proud of if he were still around. He was a sign writer, photographer and artist.

All in all, being your own boss really shows you who you are and what you’re capable of. I’m really proud of how far I’ve come and really enjoying every lesson along the way, even the really hard ones.

Fern Goddess Mural

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Techie Hipster with Blood Cells Mural at one40william

I also did my first big signage job for the “One40 Work” event, which I got my scissor lift licence for which was a bit of a milestone for me. It was a bit scary being up so high while painting, so before I came back to take it down, I had planned a trip to New Zealand for my Grandpa’s 100th birthday and while I was there I did the 198m jump off the Sky Tower in Auckland to help me with my fear of heights which was amazing and definitely helped me get over any fear. Although, when the Sky Jump guide asked me why I was doing the jump, he reminded me that it’s probably not a good idea to get into the habit of jumping off high things.

one40 Work

The last thing I wanted to tell you about was my latest mural at One40 which was for the Red Cross and Zetta. It’s probably my favourite mural I’ve done to date. It’s a bunch of gadget loving I.T. people and a couple of robots floating around on giant red blood cells. I love these new characters. Especially the beardy guy wearing a giant hat. So hipster.

one40william Monster Mural

Click here to see more photos in the gallery

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Fern Goddess in New Zealand

So, because I’ve been painting like a maniac I haven’t had much time to update my website or anything so I’ve FINALLY edited all the mural photos. Sorry that some are a bit blurry. My camera’s not great …nor my photography skills.

The mural I did for my Dad was New Zealand themed and because he lives in a beautiful place in the hills of Whanganui, the window opposite the mural has a beautiful view of my Dad’s garden and rolling green hills behind it so I really wanted to reflect the natural aspects of New Zealand and give it a really calming feel as it’s in a living room. I ended up painting a lady who I’ve been calling “Fern Goddess” She has her eyes closed to give a calm, non-confrontational feel and she has native New Zealand ferns for hair and native New Zealand birds and butterflies living in among the ferns. She has a bit of a mother nature feel about her. I was really happy with how she turned out, especially being my first full mural and most importantly, my Dad says he loves sitting in that room now because he finds it very calming.

Mandalas & Zentangles at one40william

The second lot of murals that I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to do were 3 walls on the ground floor at One40 William. I was given a lot of freedom to do whatever I liked but was told to try to represent the restaurants and businesses in the complex and to brighten up the corridors and make them a bit more fun. My final idea for the walls was sort of a combination of mandalas and zentangles, using four pastel but still bright vibrant colours. Then to incorporate the businesses I put their logos in circles in black and white so that none of their logo colours would clash and they all became a part of the pattern.

The last lot of walls I did were two 12 metre long walls in the basement corridors of One40, where all the staff are constantly busy running around. I was given a brief to design some character to represent the people who work there and the hustle and bustle that’s always happening in those corridors. At first, I started drawing cartoon people but before I knew it they had turned into weird, furry monster/alien things so I went with it and luckily everyone else seemed to fall in love with them! In fact, everyone loved them so much that they asked me back to create some more! I started off with a few ideas for characters but as I got to know everyone working there they started inspiring me to create monsters based on certain individuals who work there and people started claiming monsters for themselves, saying “I’m this monster because I love riding bikes” or “I’m that monster because it seems cheeky, like me”. It was so much fun! Everyone down there was so welcoming and made me feel so comfortable, even with the freezing cold weather. It was also really satisfying to see a noticeable difference in everyone’s moods once there was a bit of colour and fun in their environment.

Monsters at one40william

Here are some of the photos. Click here to see more photos in the online gallery

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