Growing up in a affluent northern Sydney suburb our family always seemed a little out of place. The neighbours drove shiny black BMW's, had cleaners and tennis courts. The women had beauty naps
in the day while their doctor, lawyer, accountant husbands brought home the bread.
Our car a brown torana which got into a smash at the airport was a wild assortment of pinks, purples and bright blue down one whole side, because it couldn't afford to be fixed.
The house had extensions on it for years while gaping holes were covered with plastic, and the wild life found it's way in. We once found a baby possum at the bottom of the laundry basket!
Our house was filled with paintings and abstract sculptures, my artist father also had a substantial collection of Papua New Guinean masks. The rich Lebanese neighbors from across the road came for dinner once, but left before the first course was served as they believed that the masks housed EVIL spirits!
All the while my mother and father worked and worked, they built their house, they did all the jobs that others were hired to do in the wealthier houses, with my father working a good 60 hour work on top of that as well. I remember them up and down ladders every weekend, my mother covered in paint,
while other mother's went to the salon to get their nails done.
As we grew older, all the hard work began to pay off, and their life became more comfortable, and a little softer around the edges. Now they live in beautiful home by the sea. But the ethic's are still there.
They have brought my sister and I up, who also owns her own business to believe that with talent, a dream, and a lot of hard work anything is possible.
As I look around the galleries, and speak with other artists I know that people are being more cautious with their money, that is why I'm delighted to be selling work in a quieter time. I'm grateful to those working just as hard as I am on making that happen, and most of all to my parents who are the foundation of belief that I have in myself. It's through them that I know if you never give up
you will succeed.
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