Kia Ora and Gidday! Rowan is my name and art is my game! Cheesy rhymes aside, I am a self-taught Kiwi artist, living in the vibrantly multicultural and creative world of Sydney’s Inner West. I have two beautiful girls, Stella and Audrey, a lovely man by my side and a rambunctious cattle dog called Pepper.

I have always had art in my life. As a child I was always encouraged to bring a sketchbook with me, no matter where we were. As my parents always did this, I thought incorporating some kind of creative practice into every day was normal. I was put off doing art as a longtime thing in high school at age 14 by a teacher who felt that using Japanese woodcarving masters as inspiration for a print piece was copying and therefore cheating! I pursued languages and then international relations at university and eventually achieved a PhD in international relations but the making continued – knitting, sewing, crocheting, decoupaging, painting, printing… you name it, I did it.

My youngest daughter, just 7 months old at the time, was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 – she pulled through but it was a hell of a year for us. Her and I spent over 150 nights in hospital and daily art journalling helped me through this. It also led to a reassessment of all that was important in my life and in turn, led me to rethink how I want to spend this precious time we have left to us.

It was a watershed moment and it informed my decision to try and make art everyday. So, here I am, trying to live my bliss, with not enough hours in the day to carve, print, paint and draw!