Welcome to my studio space! This is where I spend a fair amount of my time. I love to be here and was thrilled earlier this year when my dream space became a reality. It is here that you’ll find me surrounded by easels, live specimens, dried plants and pressings. I look from here out onto many of my favourite plants. The greenery is amazing and I feel very fortunate that I am surrounded by not only these plants, but beautiful birdlife. Some of them choose to pay a visit while I am working!

A local visitor. The magpies are very curious….and they love a chat!

An honest no frills look at the studio when I’m working! Messy!

A bit about me for those who are curious! I’m Susan and I’d like to thank you for being here and having a look at my work and practise. Though really, I could hardly call it “work” in the true sense, it is probably better described as my “joy”. I am a Botanical Illustrator, Artist and Educator living in the seaside town of Kingscliff in the Northern Rivers region of Northern New South Wales, Australia. How did I get here? I am always asking myself that, and you’d think you’d know, but honestly things seem to just come together when you are fortunate enough to have a go at doing something that you love. I have arrived at this point in my life after a lifetime of thinking about getting to this point! It sounds funny to think of it this way, but I have spent my life pursuing a love of educating young people (mostly 37 years of teaching Maths but also helping out in Science, French, Art and even the odd Commerce class….you go where they think you can help), researching anything and everything that I was interested in, learning from books (there is a room in our house sinking under the weight of books!) and in particular, from others….other teachers in schools and universities and artists, all really generous people…and some of the best of those times were in seeing the joy of discovery on my students faces, especially when you’ve guided them to a spot where they can take over and work it out for themselves. Pure joy!

Then comes the point when you remember that the other interests that you have are pulling you in another direction. I realised that one of the best things children can learn from you is that life is one big journey in learning. The time came for me to begin the next phase. Another thing that you learn on this journey is that sometimes your parents, especially when you are fortunate to have had two of the best, actually know you better, or can narrow down on a direction for you, more than you can yourself. My parents always championed my love of creating and my Dad continued with this even as I began my teaching career and raised my own little family. He thought that with my love of research, microscopes, Mathematics, Science, precision, plants and animals, combined with my painting and drawing….that I should look at Botanical and Natural History Illustration. I’m hoping that he can see now, from his place in the bigger universe, that I ran with his idea and it has brought me an enormous amount of happiness and some of the most wonderful new friends. Thanks Dad.

If I’m not in my studio working, you’ll find me out and about, exploring, recording in drawings and photographs my local plants, birds and animals, reading a book in a local cafe (highly recommended….Kingscliff has a lovely beach and cafes!), doing other courses and learning from some incredibly talented artists, or travelling, where there is always something to learn. Now that I have transitioned from Mathematics classrooms to a studio of my own, I’m hoping to still be able to guide others down their own lovely path of learning, through teaching skills and educating through my artwork. Most importantly, as I’m a new grandmother, I might just be able to continue to pass on a love for our amazing world and relearn how to view it with wonder through the eyes of a little one.