Portrait Commission of Mrs Edith (Tilly) Whitaker for the Newington College Art Collection.

Portrait of Mrs Edith (Tilly) Whitaker (1890- 1971)

I was honoured to be commissioned to paint this portrait for the Newington College Art Collection.

Edith Whitaker was Newington College’s first female subject head (and reportedly the first in the GPS). Appointed Head of English in 1942 as part of an effort to replace male teachers who had enlisted during WWII, she was known as a strong disciplinarian who earned deep respect from students and staff.

When she retired in 1949, eighty former and current students attended her farewell dinner, presenting her with a silver teapot and tray, referenced here alongside the Shakespeare volumes in tribute to her life in English education. Edith returned to England where she passed away aged 81 in 1971.

Portrait Commission of Mrs Edith (Tilly) Whitaker, oil on linen, 100cm x 80cm, 2025. In the Newington College Art Collection.

Portrait study of Mrs Edith Whitaker , Graphite on Fabriano Paper, 30cm x 40cm, 2025.

In the Newington College Archives

Portrait Study 2 of Mrs Edith Whitaker, Graphite on Fabriano Paper, 40cm x 30cm,2025.

In the Newington College Archives.

Book Feature : ' The Clayton Utz Art Partnership 2017-2022'

Honored to be featured in the book ‘The Clayton Utz Art Partnership 2017- 2022’ .

Published in Conjunction with Clayton Utz, 3:33 Art Projects, and Bandicoot Publishing Pty Ltd, Alexandria, NSW, Australia. Editors: Bruce Cooper, Kon Gouriotis and Max Germanos. Contributing writer: Dr. Judith Pugh.

Photograph by Scott Ehler/ Clayton Utz.

Kedumba Drawing Award


The Kedumba Drawing Collection was started in 1990 and embodies and reflects all the elements of outstanding drawing created in Australia over more than 50 years and has acquired almost two hundred drawings.

Kedumba Drawing Image.jpg

I was fortunate enough to have my work  “ Looking In, Seeing Out - Bundanon” acquired for this collection

The subject of my work depicts
myself almost as a voyeur peering from the outside through the glass windows of the The Bundanon Homestead during my recent residency. Capturing both inside and the surrounding landscape in the one frame, as a play on reflections, allows the internal foyer and staircase to fuse seamlessly with the mountains and trees. My technique of mark making, formed intuitively over time, evokes the fragility of remembering by creating a blurring of focus and the slowing of viewing time. The drawn line also relates to the concept of memory consisting of a mass of marks designated into what we have seen, heard and felt.