About Michelle
I’ve spent my life making careful observations, drawn to the quiet moments that easily go unnoticed in a busy world.
Sometimes through a camera, sometimes with a paintbrush.
Sometimes simply by pausing long enough to see what’s right in front of me.
Morning mist drifting across the paddock.
The gentle glow around my old dog at sunset.
Long winter shadows stretching across a field or the stillness before rain.
Inspired by the changing seasons, animals and landscapes of our small farm in rural Western Australia, these moments have quietly shaped the way I see the world and the art I create.
Art has been part of my life since childhood.
Over the years my creative path wandered through graphite, coloured pencil, pastel, acrylic, oils, photography, digital paintings and now back to traditional painting.
Every medium taught me something different, but all were ways of capturing the feeling of an ordinary moment becoming quietly extraordinary.
For more than twenty years I worked professionally as both an artist and photographer, creating portraits of beloved animals, the people who loved them as well as commercial photography for the horse and rural communities.
It was work I genuinely loved, and I’m deeply grateful to everyone who invited me to be part of their story.
Over time though, I realized that my creative energy had gradually become centered around creating for other people rather than the simple joy of following my own curiosity.
When health challenges eventually brought that chapter to a close, they also created something unexpected for me.
Space.
Space to paint without expectations, space to paint for the pure enjoyment and space to follow an idea simply because it sparked my curiosity.
It also gave me the clarity to build what comes next deliberately, rather than simply returning to more of the same.
As I began creating for myself again, I discovered something else had quietly returned.
I was seeing the world the way I had when I was younger—not because I’d learned a new way of looking, but because I’d finally given myself permission to see it through my own eyes again.
Quiet Light grew from that rediscovery and has become a way to share not only my artwork, but the quiet observations that inspire it.
It isn’t about escaping everyday life – it’s about noticing the beauty that has been quietly waiting there all along.
Quiet Light brings together everything I’ve loved throughout my life—drawing, painting, photography, writing, nature, animals, country life – and the quiet practice of taking a moment to see something beautiful in an ordinary day.
More than two decades in creative business has taught me as much about resilience as it has about art. I haven’t become less ambitious, I’ve simply become much more intentional about my choices and no longer believe success has to come at the expense of the life you want to live.
I don’t know where my work will lead over the years ahead, but I hope my paintings continue to surprise me.
Thank you for being here.
If you’ve ever had to fight for your own version of a quieter life — not because you were slowing down, but because you finally knew what you wanted it to look like — I suspect we’ll understand each other and I’d love to share the journey with you.