Gill Morris

About the Artist

I was born and raised in Birmingham, UK. As a child and teenager I always had an interest in drawing, spending much time copying pictures that appealed rather than drawing from life. I loved the style of the Winnie the Pooh illustrations using pen and wash and, at school, did well at subjects e.g. biology which required detailed illustrations to my written notes. Throughout my adult life I enrolled for several art & craft courses, veering more towards craft than art, dabbling, amongst others, in china painting, and mosaics. It was only much later in life when I had arrived in Exmouth that I saw that ECAC were holding a mosaic workshop and that is when I got involved with the group.  Early on I kept to mosaic projects, thinking art was for the accomplished artists. It was only on retirement, having a bit more time that I first attended an art workshop and from then on I was hooked, signing up for all the workshops that I was able to. I have experimented with various media, though oils still daunt me. I love pastels and generally do my pet portraits in this medium. Generally, my medium of choice tends to be acrylics.

My favourite subject matter is what has always interested me, animals, especially dogs and scenes from nature. I am constantly inspired by the dazzling ocean colours of Ningaloo, but also love to paint the tranquil bush scenes in places where I used to walk my dogs around the Mandurah area.. Not having dogs now I still love to walk and always take my camera ( the old habit of painting from a picture rather than from life still persists! ) My next challenge will be to paint underwater scenes. I have a large collection of reference material as like my walks, I always take a camera when swimming around the reefs of the Ningaloo Marine Parks.

I sign my works ‘Gillaki’ a nickname I acquired living on one of the Greek islands before I migrated to Australia.