As we move toward the end of another year filled with change, challenge, and unexpected turns, I’ve been thinking deeply about what art can offer us — not just as decoration, but as something we live with. My work has always carried a quiet thread of hope, and this month I’ve leaned intentionally into that message.

In uncertain times, sometimes what we need most is a visual reminder that resilience is possible … that beauty can still emerge from the unknown … that even when we don’t yet see the path, we can choose to keep walking.

Hosting Radiance in Bloom at my psychology practice rooms on Nasmyth Street felt like watching two parts of my world gently fold into one another.

In the days leading up to opening night, my team and I transformed the entire space — relocating every piece of counselling and psychology related equipment, from office chairs and printers to EMDR light bars, Bi-Tapp tappers, sand trays, art as therapy tools, and the many children’s therapy aides that usually live here. Once cleared, the rooms breathed differently.

Radiance in Bloom was a fabulous exhibition — but behind the scenes, it was an all-out race to the finish line. The official opening was locked in for 4pm on Friday 5 December, perfectly timed just before the 75th National Cherry Festival grand opening at 5pm.

That one-hour buffer became the tightest deadline of my artistic life. What followed was a behind-the-scenes saga of ladders, logistics, teamwork, and sheer Boorowa grit.

I joined a line-up of stellar women at Harden Murrumburrah Gather & Glow event, which brought together everything I love most.

My “Permission to Shine” workshop - hosted at Harden Country Club - empowered rural women with colour‑therapy acrylic painting, leaving participants with a vibrant, confidence‑boosting canvas. For me, I loved connecting with the group through the vehicle of both art and inner exploration.

The Boorowa Art Show has always felt like a family celebration for me. A chance to hang my work alongside the town’s vibrant Woolfest festivities where locals and visitors alike can enjoy true country style hospitality.

This year the festivities ran from Friday 3 to Sunday 5 October, and the main street transformed into a buzzing hub of colour, music and, of course, the famous “Running of the Sheep”. Watching the sheep dogs try their best to coax the marching ewes up the street, never fails to make me grin; it’s the kind of chaotic charm that reminds me why I love rural events.

Australia’s greatest unsolved art heist: Picasso’s Weeping Woman

The year was 1986, I was five and a half years old, living in the small mining town of Norseman in Western Australia. One August morning, I came across The West Australian newspaper on our dining room table. It featured a striking image on the front page that immediately caught my eye. It was Picasso’s Weeping Woman—sharp angles, anguishing sadness, and a suffering so raw it seemed to spill off the page.

But what truly fascinated me wasn’t just the painting itself—it was the story. Picasso’s 1937 work had been purchased just the year before for A$1.6 million, and it had now been stolen from the National Gallery of Victoria in what would become Australia’s most infamous unsolved art heist.

And then there was the ransom note. The thief—or thieves—hadn’t asked for money.