Although I had always dabbled in watercolour painting as a hobby, I only came to botanical painting quite late.

It was in 2005; we visited the “One Thousand Years of Botanical Painting” exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and I was totally captivated by the beautifully intricate representation of plants, and how, over the years, these paintings had become a record of flora of past centuries, and I realised I wanted to do something similar; something that would benefit future generations of botanists.

But I realised this would need a lot of training and practice to get to the standard which botanical art requires…

Then when I retired as a school principal in 2009, I decided that, at the age of 60, I would take up botanical art as a career… After a distance learning course with the London Art College, I took the diploma course for the UK Society of Botanical Artists, where I achieved a distinction, and am now a Fellow of the Society.

My studio where I work at home looks out on to my garden and to the South China Sea beyond…

My garden is a great inspiration to me, and a microcosm of the biodiversity we have here in Hong Kong. I have planted things like bougainvillea, Chinese privet, etc which attract and encourage birds – cheeky little white-eyes, crested bulbuls, magpie robins and passing stonechats and minivets - and a great array of butterflies and dragonflies - and as dusk falls, the bats which roost in my fan-palm (Livistona chinensis) come and dart around in the twilight.

The flowers and trees in my garden provide many of the subjects of my work.

The French TV5 channel did a program about Lantau a few years ago, which featured quite a lot about me and my work - it has me in English, with a French voice-over… you can watch it by clicking here…. (I am on from 6.15 to 12.20..)

There was also a 14 min video podcast made by the local Hong Kong group “MM”- you can see it here. (It is me in English with some Cantonese and subtitles)

And I featured on the cover of our local “Life on Lantau” glossy magazine - see here.

Some examples of my work are displayed on this website, along with details about the book “Portraits of Trees of Hong Kong and Southern China” which I produced along with Hong Kong University. (PLEASE NOTE… Chinese version now available…! in HK bookshops or Amazon)

Originals and prints of my works are available - please email me for details Prints cost around HK$ 1500-1800, and originals are generally $9000 and upward, depending on size and subject. All items are post free in Hong Kong, and overseas at cost.

The book is available in Lantau and Hong Kong bookshops, and on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk