It gives me so much joy to escape into the wonderful world of art and create from the heart! I feel so happy when I have a paint brush in my hand and I see the image developing in front of me. With inspiring music in the background it’s a dream-like, creative environment.
I grew up under the influence of an amazing artistic soul, my father Kevin Best, who inspired my love of art. Kevin was a well-known traditional artist who gained a stellar reputation for the way he could use light to bring a scene to life. He had incredible insight and appreciation for the Australian landscape and the Australian way of life, and loved to ‘bring it to others’ in his paintings. This is one thing that has resonated with me, and giving this pleasure and joy to others through my work is one of the most important things in my life.
I trained in Illustration and Graphic Design back when you actually used real pencils and brushes, a truly tactile learning ground. Working in art studios also helped me to understand the business side of art. I always painted and dabbled in other art forms, loving to be creative in any medium.
In recent years I have had the opportunity to focus on my fine arts, specifically painting. Bringing a scene to life on canvas is so exciting – I love the great outdoors especially the coastline. Studying the colours of the ocean – the deep blues, aquas of the shallows, emerald greens in amongst the wash, and then the colours in the sky, the yellows and pinks of a sunrise, mauves and greys in the clouds…Wow! It’s just so exhilarating!
I love it when the unexpected appears as well: the pops of brilliant pink amongst the sand dunes where coastal florals emerge, mist forming in expansive valleys, the interesting shapes and rich colours of a floral spray and the way the light emphasises its form. Even something as deceptively simple as a summer fruit is really a work of art, and it is almost meditative to study the amazing shapes and textures and bring them to life on canvas.
Art is an individual experience, a perception beyond the senses – captured and held. I know I will remain endlessly fascinated and entranced by its magic, and forever grateful to be an artist.
Artist Biography
It gives me so much joy to escape into the wonderful world of art and create from the heart! I feel so happy when I have a paint brush in my hand and I see the image developing in front of me. With inspiring music in the background it’s a dream-like, creative environment.
I grew up under the influence of an amazing artistic soul, my father Kevin Best, who inspired my love of art. Kevin was a well-known traditional artist who gained a stellar reputation for the way he could use light to bring a scene to life. He had incredible insight and appreciation for the Australian landscape and the Australian way of life, and loved to ‘bring it to others’ in his paintings. This is one thing that has resonated with me, and giving this pleasure and joy to others through my work is one of the most important things in my life.
I trained in Illustration and Graphic Design back when you actually used real pencils and brushes, a truly tactile learning ground. Working in art studios also helped me to understand the business side of art. I always painted and dabbled in other art forms, loving to be creative in any medium.
In recent years I have had the opportunity to focus on my fine arts, specifically painting. Bringing a scene to life on canvas is so exciting – I love the great outdoors especially the coastline. Studying the colours of the ocean – the deep blues, aquas of the shallows, emerald greens in amongst the wash, and then the colours in the sky, the yellows and pinks of a sunrise, mauves and greys in the clouds…Wow! It’s just so exhilarating!
I love it when the unexpected appears as well: the pops of brilliant pink amongst the sand dunes where coastal florals emerge, mist forming in expansive valleys, the interesting shapes and rich colours of a floral spray and the way the light emphasises its form. Even something as deceptively simple as a summer fruit is really a work of art, and it is almost meditative to study the amazing shapes and textures and bring them to life on canvas.
Art is an individual experience, a perception beyond the senses – captured and held. I know I will remain endlessly fascinated and entranced by its magic, and forever grateful to be an artist.