In mid-2025, I began thrifting antique and vintage frames with the simple intention of pairing them with my watercolour art, and somewhere along the way, the idea of turning this into a series began to take shape and an on-going theme emerged.
‘The Frame Project’ is a collection of windows into a hidden world that exists alongside our own. In this world, familiar objects are not just things, but living vessels of meaning. Each character within these frames takes the form of an object in place of their head, embodying something essential to the human experience. They are caretakers, each responsible for preserving a different fragment of what it means to feel, grow, connect and exist.
Together, they tend to the invisible parts of life that are often left behind as we grow older, and every frame into this series is a glimpse into their world. Seen together, these caretakers form something like a recipe for a meaningful life, each one representing an essential ingredient, often overlooked on its own, but transformative when combined.
This theme runs throughout the series giving me 28 unique characters, followed by frame 29, a surreal self-portrait, all leading up to the grand finale in frame 30. The largest frame of them all (1.7m wide), will host a ‘Mad Hatter’-inspired tea party, where all 28 characters and I will finally come together in one whimsical scene.
But it doesn’t end with the paintings. Alongside them, I’ll be bringing my passion for sculpture into the series by shaping these characters into three-dimensional forms. Every painting and sculpture in The Frame Project is an attempt to document these inhabitants and the work they do before they fade from memory once more.
When the project is complete, both the framed paintings and sculptures will gather for a celebratory exhibition - an imaginative meeting of past and present, paper and clay, dream and reality.
Frames 1 & 2
‘What We Nurture, Grows’
This diptych was born from a pair of antique frames in this collection, similar in design but slightly varied in size. I kept wondering how I could connect them in a way that went beyond just hanging them side by side, and that’s where the idea of water flowing from one frame into the other came in. In the top frame, the figure with a watering can for a head becomes the giver, pouring care into the world. In the bottom frame, a sunflower-headed figure embodies what grows from that act of nourishment. Putting them together this way connects them, not just visually, but also symbolically - one nourishing the other - and for me it serves a reminder of how much the things we pour into the world, and into each other, really matter.
'What We Nurture, Grows' - Frame 1
'What We Nurture, Grows' - Frame 2
The original background (which I hated)
Work in progress
Their Story
Meet Winnie. Winnie takes her job very seriously, although nobody ever officially appointed her such a role. One day she discovered that water helps flowers grow and immediately appointed herself ‘Head of All Growing Things’. Every morning she marches around town looking for anything she thinks needs some “liquid encouragement”, and while her heart is in the right place, her methods are somewhat... damp? The townsfolk have learned that if Winne starts running toward you with a watering can full of enthusiasm, it's best to move rather quickly.
And then we have Sunny. She was once the smallest sunflower in the village garden and Winnie watered her every single day. Sometimes twice. Occasionally thrice. To Winnie's delight, Sunny grew taller and taller until eventually she became a fully-fledged sunflower. Winnie now proudly tells everyone she is entirely responsible for Sunny's success. Sunny usually lets her believe it. What Winnie doesn't realise is that Sunny grew because of more than just water… there was sunshine, the worms beneath the soil, the seasons that changed, and most importantly, her own determination to keep reaching for the sky.
Winnie insists she created Sunny. Sunny insists Winnie helped, and neither of them are completely wrong, because growth rarely comes from just one thing. We like to point to a single person, or a single act of kindness and say, "That's what made the difference.”, but growth is usually a collaboration.
A little nurture, a little help from others, and a lot of reaching toward the light.
Because in the end… nothing grows alone.
Frame 3
‘Tea for the Soul, Tales for the Mind’
When I purchased this frame, it came with a needlework tapestry (pictured below), created by a woman named Helen Soulos in 1973 (as per the inscription on the back). After some research, I found out the piece was based on the famous painting by French artist Jean-Honore Fragonard called ‘A Young Girl Reading’. Sadly, Helen has since passed away in 2019, but I know she was part of a Greek family from Sydney and she was a twin. It was this needlepoint tapestry that inspired the creation of the painting I did for this frame. The painting also represents my adoration for a cosy hot cuppa and a good book on a rainy day. The simple pleasures in life.
This here is Penelope Potts. Most people assume she spends all day reading fairy tales and drinking tea… and to be fair, that's exactly what she wants them to think. What most people don't know is that Penelope is responsible for keeping the entire town from completely exhausting itself. Every time she sees someone rushing from one task to the next, carrying far too many worries and not nearly enough biscuits, she adds their name to a list, and when that list gets long enough, Penelope invites them over for what she calls an ‘Emergency Tea Appointment’.
Attendance is not technically mandatory, but somehow everyone shows up anyway, and the appointments are always the same. A comfortable chair. A warm cup of tea. A good book. And absolutely no discussing productivity. At first, her visitors find this very frustrating. Surely they should be doing something useful. Surely there are errands to run, problems to solve, goals to chase. But after a while, their shoulders begin to relax, their thoughts become quieter, their breathing slows, and before they know it, they remember something they had completely forgotten.
How to simply exist.
Penelope insists that people are a lot like teapots. If they're constantly kept on the boil, eventually they'll run dry. Every now and then, they need to be refilled and given a little time to warm up again. The townsfolk often laugh at her philosophy, until they find themselves overwhelmed, exhausted, and sitting in her parlour with a blanket over their knees and a book in their hands. By the time they leave, they usually agree she was right, though they rarely admit it out loud.
We spend so much time trying to move forward that we forget to pause. But sometimes the most productive thing you can do isn't to work harder. It's to put the kettle on, find a good book, sit by the window, and give yourself permission to rest, because sometimes all we need to begin again is a cup of hot tea, a good story, and a cosy afternoon to reset the soul.
Her Story
Frame 4
Her Story
This is Pippa Snapshot. Pippa is the Memory Keeper of the village. Not because anyone necessarily elected her, but because one day she noticed something rather troubling… People kept forgetting things, the little things. The things that make a life meaningful.
Like the smell of fresh rain after a storm, or the feeling of grass beneath bare feet. A conversation that lasted longer than the tea, or a moment that seemed ordinary at the time, but years later would become precious. Pippa couldn't bear the thought of those moments disappearing, so she started collecting them. Whenever she senses a memory being made, her camera clicks automatically. The photograph slides out, and somehow, impossibly, it captures more than what happened… It captures what it felt like. The warmth and joy. The nostalgia that hasn't happened yet.
Her home sits near the centre of town, filled floor to ceiling with albums. Thousands upon thousands of photographs. Not of grand adventures or heroic achievements, but with ordinary moments. The kind people overlook while they're living them. The kind they later discover were the most important of all. Whenever someone in the village feels lost, Pippa invites them over and pulls a dusty album from her shelves, and if you look closely, you'll spot familiar faces. There's a photograph of Winnie proudly watering Sunny for the first time. A photograph of Penelope hosting an Emergency Tea Appointment on a rainy afternoon. And countless others from around the village. Some of the people in those photographs haven't even been introduced yet. Together they flip through its pages, and somewhere between the photographs, people usually find what they were looking for… A reminder of who they are.
We often think memories are something we look back on, but they're also something we're creating every single day. Most of them won't seem important while they're happening, in fact, many will feel completely ordinary. But years from now, those ordinary moments may become the stories we treasure most. So, perhaps life isn't about waiting for memorable moments. Perhaps it's about noticing that they're already happening. And if you're lucky enough to meet Pippa, she'll make sure they aren't forgotten.
‘Take A Picture’
This piece pays homage to my photography days and the way memories are captured, framed, and preserved. Inspired by nostalgia and my time behind the camera, the Polaroid becomes both a head and a window into the past. The image being ejected from the camera is a photograph of me painting this very piece. It brings together who I was as a photographer and who I am now as a painter / sculptor, holding past and present in the same frame, much like a Polaroid that slowly reveals its story.
