A Bit About the Artist

Let's get aquainted.

I am a 25 year old woman living in the Hills, south of Perth, Western Australia, and I have a passion for Art- specifically drawing.

I grew up in a small country town, called Boddington, in the Peel Region of Western Australia, where I was surrounded by an abundance of nature to fuel my imaginative mind. I had a burning desire to draw everything around me on whatever surface I could find, with whatever tools I had available. It was quickly realized that I had a passion for art and so it was very easy for my family to buy birthday gifts for me- packet of pencils and I was good to go!

It wasn't long before the teachers at my school noticed my talent and soon enough I was known as the girl who was good at drawing. I would suddenly become the entire class's best friend when we had a drawing task to do in pairs.

Throughout high school this continued and in year ten (at the age of fifteen) my wood work teacher paid me $50 to draw some coloured portraits of his children, and so it was my first ever paid commission.

I put a few of my paintings up at the Highbury General Store and sold a few of them to my delight at the time. I was also advertising $50 Pet Portrait drawings from a hand-drawn poster I made that was stuck to the front door of the store.

I participated in a few market stalls selling my works, entered the Narrogin Agricultural Show winning first prize for some of my paintings, designed a few logos and menu boards for businesses around town and soon I was the local resident artist.

In 2011 my mother and I moved to Kalamunda so that I could attend the Special Arts Program (GATE: Gifted And Talented Education). There I studied ATAR Visual Art and showed a few works in some exhibitions.

In 2014, two years after graduating High School and still absolutely no idea what to do with my life (shocking for a nineteen year old, right?), I was encouraged by a friend to register as a business. I had not an ounce of business skills in my bones, but decided I had nothing to lose, so I went for it. I registered an ABN (Australian Business Number), called myself "Wizard Portraits", after my horse, Whiz, ordered some business cards and a few fancy stamps from Vistaprint and figured I'd made it. Hello, retirement! Little did I know that was the easiest part of my whole journey as a young business owner.

Throughout the last six years I have continued to make beautiful art, art that I'm less proud of, art that has made others cry with joy and made myself cry with frustration. I have challenged myself, sat stagnantly in my comfort zone for long periods, drawn for sixty-seven hours over a few weeks, and gone six months without picking up a pencil. I have participated in exhibitions, volunteered in Nepal, traveled Australia, had angry clients calling me, others sharing and promoting my work with their network of friends and family, and everything in between.

I intend to share these stories with you in a raw, honest and inspiring way, answer your questions, help you with your artistic endeavors, explain my motives and inspiration and so much more.

I invite you to join me on the road to becoming a full time, self-employed Artist, embracing the vast array of colours on the spectrum of this journey.

Until next time, keep creating.

Madeline x