After a professional life working first as a teacher, then as a counsellor, in 2008 I studied art part-time at The Learning Connexion. Since 2015, I have written and illustrated a story for each of my five grandchildren. These stories are one-offs and are unpublished. In 2015 and 2016 I wrote and illustrated two children’s stories about Heritage Tomatoes which were published with the support and endorsement of the Heritage Food Crop Research Trust in Whanganui. In August 2018, with the assistance of a scholarship from The Learning Connexion, I wrote and illustrated “Lucy, the Girl who Listens / Lucy, te Kōtiro i Whakarongo” which has been sold throughout N.Z. In 2021, I completed “The Secrets in the Soil / Ngā Kura Huna ā-Nuku” a story about a girl, her tomato plant and microbes in the soil. Enquiries have come from as far south as Rakiura (Stewart Island) and as far north as Kaitaia. (See “how to buy”). To date: (October 2023) All copies of “Lucy, the Girl who Listens / Lucy, te Kōtiro i Whakarongo” have been sold, and there are only 12 copies of “The Secrets in the Soil/Ngā Kura huna ā-Nuku” left!!

Currently I am focussing on painting greeting cards and creating “Painted Words” (inspirational cards)…..

My motivation comes from my belief that all life forms are inter-related and inter-connected - and the more we pay attention to what is going on around us, the more likely it is that we experience our inter-connectedness with all beings around us. Frequently that connectedness is experienced as magical!