Drawing forms the basis of all Tricia’s art, with charcoal and pastel being the most favoured materials. Tricia has been experimenting with different surfaces, creating her own, through various treatments of the paper and other surfaces, particularly for pastel. These innovations have been the subject of articles in the Australian Artist magazine.

Through her road trips around Australia, Tricia has gained appreciation of the many aspects of Australia’s land. Depending on what she wants to visually say about particular areas, Tricia will choose to work in ink on watercolour paper; with acrylic over collage on canvas; in pastel over prepared and textured surfaces etc. Tricia’s book “Landscape as Story” has theory, demonstrations and examples of how to create landscapes which reflect a personal reaction.

Tricia’s work is increasingly exhibiting layers of interest and story through collage; photo transfer; texture applications and various techniques. Exploring adding drawing under the process, during the process or on top of the work, has led to many innovative uses of available materials, and Tricia loves to impart this knowledge through her workshops. Her techniques are explained and demonstrated in her educational videos, available through Pulsar Productions

A typical initial portrait session is about three hours in length, including a charcoal drawing from life, photographs of the sitter, and discussion on what may form an underlying collage or what might contribute to layers of interest in the image.

Tricia’s regular donations to charities come mainly from this genre. Organisations such as St Vincent de Paul; Qld Blind Cricket Association; Redcliffe Padres Baseball Club; Pastel Society of Australia etc. benefit from raffling Tricia’s paintings.

This portrait competition requires entrants to create caricatures or satirical portraits of noted Australians. A spoof of another major Australian portrait competition. Tricia has been a finalist over a dozen times, with her successful entries going on each of those National tours, and often selling.