Delicate Lines

LATE NIGHT PONDERING ABOUT THE UPCOMING EXHIBITION taking a closer look at the themes and prior experiences that led to its creation.

DELICATE LINES solo exhibition at Wabi Sabi Gallery, Adamstown NSW Saturday 29th – Sunday 30th August 2026

Looking forward to my 3rd solo exhibition and feeling very fortunate to share this collection with you. This body of work merges nature with feminine imagery using expressive realism and abstraction. At first glance they are gentle dreamscapes of women and nature inspired by beauty and memories. With deeper reflection and connection they tell the story of the narrow delicate lines women walk in the context of a system not designed to benefit us.

I have explored the theme of women in my art for many years. The older I get the more I find myself speaking up, examining the expectations, the impossible standards and the self sacrifices so embodied in my learning. I have been writing poetry for years and in 2024, I published a collection of my work. I collated a selection of poems to create a narrative of a woman’s wrestle through her relationship journey. In addition to the book launch I exhibited a collection of black and white drawings inspired by the poetry. The work hit an uncomfortable nerve and it was not received well. Raw, honest and open was too much. It seemed it was even more offensive that as a married woman I would explore the themes I did. Instant divorce was expressed by some, if it was their wives. People felt pity for my husband. At first I felt punished and shamed. I was hurt that my creativity was dismissed, disapproved of, when artistically, I was really proud of my poetry. And I was guttered that writing about issues women face under this system was vilified, but the generations of shrinking to make men comfortable is perfectly acceptable! It hit hard. I stopped promoting the book and chalked it up to a failure. I wrestled with my guilt at the idea that I had embarrassed my love. It was not until very recently that I realised that despite our flaws, I was so incredibly lucky to feel safe to share the work with others. That his love was not conditional and that his confidence is our realtionship was not threatened by processing feelings artistically.

The negativity expressed by others played a huge role in how I approached this new collection. The warm, soft, colourful visuals are a deliberate move to contrast from the last exhibition. Highlighting the irony that pretty and non-confrontational is necessary to make the message paletteable so it won’t be so readily disregarded. I think of Miracle Max’s wife Valerie from ‘The Princess Bride’ saying “the chocolate coating makes it go down easier”! So here is the sugar coated exterior but woven into each delicate line is the courage, resilience, strength and wonder found in women everywhere learning how to expand those walls and shine on through.