My 8 summers in Greece were mostly spent on my island of Corfu working as a freelance portrait artist in the town square.

Learning to manage being surrounded by tourists and drawing on the spot for hours every day was challenging at first. During this time I had ample opportunities to draw and paint my surroundings.This is one of the surviving, more abstracted, watercolours I did of a street view.

Corfu used to be called little Florence and if you’ve been to both places you’ll understand why. My colour palette early on was clearly Australian influenced, perhaps young, bright and unruly. A little like the difference in maturity of the dominant culture.

And then there is the deep sense of country and spirit of the indigenous peoples which I couldn’t say is a conscious influence but if only through osmosis i can only hope.