Bermagui Art book: Drawn memories of Bermagui

In the 80's I grew up in Bermagui. My mum, dad, big sister Amber and I lived at Barragga Bay, in a spotted gum forest dotted with burrawongs. This was where my parents built our family home, " Apocalypse Cottage". At the age of 10, we moved away to Sydney. Over the years, I would regularly return south to see family friends. When I was 20, I was very fortunate to live in Bermagui again for a month, with a family friend, Clayton. Bermagui has always felt like my home. These artworks are a celebration of my feelings of this special part of the world. I hope it captures what others feel about this amazing place, too.

To create these works, I had to juggle my freelance graphic designer/ illustration jobs and my responsibilities as primary carer to our child. It's hard to find time for anything creative, but with the encouragement of my wife Bec, we worked out a way for me to fit my creative work into our lives. I moved my studio area into the dining room, so I could draw at any moment while still being available to our daughter. The moments in between breakfast and the school run have yielded 16 new artworks within a few months. Which became the body of work for a solo exhibition called 'Going Coastal' at the Bermagui Gelati Clinic, Bermagui fisherman's wharf in 2018.

Drawing from memory became a powerful tool, too. Every picture except the Gulga, Wallaga Lake drawing* is completely from memory. I discovered that drawing from memory, I could hit the right emotional tone of my feelings of these people and places. I also loved the freedom of being able to work anywhere, because my only reference was coming from my head all I needed to get it down was pencil, pen and paper.

*The Gulaga, Wallaga Lake drawing was created by referring to an actual sketch drawn of the bridge, sitting on a piece of driftwood at the location three years ago.