I was a finalist in the Basil Sellers Art Prize with my oil painting of Charmian Frend – “Tough Little Nugget”. The exhibition ran from 8 October to 20 November 2022.

Charmian Frend is an open water and channel swim coach. Charm is also my open water swim coach. I painted her while she was preparing to break the world ice swim record in July 2022, swimming at least 3.75km in water that must stay under 5*C the whole way – and at the same time, she was undertaking a fundraising campaign for pain research. Unfortunately due to Covid and travel limitations, it was not meant to be.

It was exciting to learn that Tough Little Nugget was the first painting to sell on opening night, and thrilled that it has a new home with one of Moruya’s residents, a town located on the far south coast of New South Wales.