Cosmic Prawn – Spirit of the Tea Club Nowra 2026

Tori Higgins, Rosemary Cochrane and I painted a mural panel for the Tea Club in Nowra as a part of the Regnite Nowra CBD Art Walk funded by NSW Government’s Uptown Accelerator Program. We painted the initial coat together in the Vincentia Connections Community Hub during the second week of the April school holidays and had lots of visits from interested community members. We even had enquiries about future mural commissions! I completed the final coats in my studio yesterday. The Cosmic Prawn character featured as the spirit of the Tea Club is a Surrealistic portrait of a local percussionist Stan, known by locals as Cosmic. Cosmic is a colourful character who has been painted by other local artists (including Bob Dixon and Helen Nugent). Consultation with original creator of the Tea Club Ross Longfield revealed Cosmic as an enthusiastic regular performer at the Tea Club when it began. Cosmic has become a fatherly figure for me as a drumming mentor since the passing of my father who taught me to play drums. Cosmic wanted to be painted in a non-serious surrealistic way to reflect his personality. Rosemary painted tea plants that feature on the menu at the Tea Club, while Tori has painted the sky, mountain and ghost moths fluttering upwards.

Cosmic Prawn – Spirit of the Tea Club 2026 Exterior House Paint on Marine Ply 81 x 122 cm The Tea Club Nowra

Female Wet Specimen 2007 UNSW 2026

On Tuesday 21st I completed a digital collage of aquarelle drawings I had created when an artist invited other artists to the bowels of the UNSW where surgeons trained on human bodies donated to science. There was a strange humour in the department, no doubt to deal with the obvious horror of dealing with human body parts. It was expressed by a head that had been ‘carried’ around the department for a while referred to as the ‘basket case’ as two holes had been cut in either side of the skull to enable it to be carried like a basket. They began the drawing session by bringing out female body parts (one assumes from the same person) incrementally to draw starting with arms, then legs, then torso and head. I think the torso was the most confronting. My collage reflects the dismemberment and the scientific culture our bodies are subjected to. The work will be exhibited on from the 2nd – 12th July at Tiliqua Tiliqua 257 Enmore Rd, Enmore in a show called Paper, Rock, Scissors.

Human Wet Specimen 2007 UNSW 2026 Digital Collage 42 x 59.4 cm $499 unframed

Rainbow Lorikeet (Autumn 2015 Bundanon) 2026

I finally completed a lorikeet shroud on paper I had created at Bundanon during my residency. It took 27 hours, the chalk pastel being particularly time consuming. The work is on show at Project Contemporary Art space for IWD from the 4th – 22nd March.

Rainbow Lorikeet (Autumn 2015 Bundanon) 2026. Pastel, watercolour and rainbow lorikeet on paper, 60 x 108 cm unframed $1840 framed 76 x 122 cm

Australian Darter (Deceased Bherwerre 2019) 2025

Australian Darter (Deceased Bherwerre 2019) 2025 Aquarelle, gesso, oil, bitumen, cotton & rabbit skin glue on linen 86 (h) x 89 (w) cm $1900 framed

Today I completed this painting of an Australian Darter found by painter Jonathan Wheeldon deceased by the waters of Bherwerre (St Georges Basin) in 2019. I am exhibiting this piece in the Open Field Salon show Berry, June 13-15 and the Birds of a Feather exhibition at Culburra Beach Common August – September. In 2026, this work will be shown in Visual Reference #6 at the Wollongong City Library from the 18th April – 17th October.

Retrospective Bud’s Tavern

May 3 – May 24

Wreck Bay Memory 2006 $1110 Charcoal, transfer, collage & pastel on paper – framed
Hill End Residency 2016 $550 House paint on canvas board – framed
Cica & Sally Spectre 2006 $1660 Charcoal, transfer, collage & pastel on paper – framed
Casuarina 2007 $810 Aquarelle on paper – framed
Wiradjuri (Bumpy House) 2009 $1270 Ochre & rabbit skin glue on canvas
White Head of Nebuchadnezzar with Crow (After Boyd) 2015 $1040 Ochre and rabbit skin glue on canvas.
Seated Nebuchadnezzar and Crying Lion (After Boyd) 2015 $1040 Ochre and rabbit skin glue on canvas.
Bumpy House 2006 $650 Oil on canvas

Recent Works in ‘Death’s Witness’

Ange made a video of my exhibition ‘Death’s Witness’ 2025

Clockwise:

Nocturne (Summer Boobook, Ringtail, Antechinus & Microbat 2019) 2025 bitumen, oil, caput mortuum, silk stitch, rabbit skin glue, boobook, ringtail, antechinus and microbat on canvas 78 x 161cm. $2520

Nocturne (Summer Pigeon 2019) 2025 bitumen, oil, caput mortuum, rabbit skin glue and pigeon on canvas 61 x 36cm. SOLD

Of Mice and Birds (Winter Currawong, Magpie, Kookaburra, and Mice 2012) 2025 bitumen, oil, aquarelle, gesso, rabbit skin glue, currawong, magpie, kookaburra, mice, eucalyptus branches and excrement on canvas 159 x 156 cm. $5060

Ghost in the Kurranulla 2025

Won second prize for still life in Shoalhaven Art Society 58th Annual Exhibition on show at Berry School of Art until 25th October.

I finally completed this labour of love. It often takes me nearly an hour to paint one shell! I photographed this beautiful mummified dolphin on a remote beach with Darren. Unfortunately, next time we went back, someone had ripped it to pieces.

Ghost in the Kurranulla 2025. Oil, gesso, pumice & aquarelle on linen 95 x 27 cm framed SOLD