I am a mother of 3 young females who I absolutely adore and cherish. I am also a devoted and supportive wife, living in the leafy northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. I work from my home studio and operate Fickle Nellie.
I have had a few different jobs during my professional life; waitress, legal secretary, receptionist, administration/office duties and my last profession was in the Early Childhood Sector as a co-educator in 3 & 4 year old programs.
Personally my interests and passions are: music, walking, yoga, weight training/gym, cycling, reading, singing, coffee, good food, friends and I love the beach.
I have always been drawn to the aesthetics of mosaics and learning the art was on my "list of things to learn and do". Ten years ago the opportunity to do this presented itself. After admiring the work of a family friend named Pam, I asked her if she was interested in giving me private lessons and I was so lucky that she offered to do so.
I visited Pam for a 3 hour lesson once a fortnight for about 2 months, at her home studio and looked forward to this time so much, excitedly waiting for the next lesson at the end of each completed class. I was so fortunate to be taught by such a talented woman, who inspires me so much with her amazing work.
Pam set me free to practise independently and I just kept making whenever I had spare time. Initially, I created garden balls and other garden objects. In 2013 I joined a local female artists' group named Thou Art Mum, who exhibit annually with themed exhibitions. The first exhibition that I entered a piece in was titled "Branching Out" (a tree theme).
I had a collection of 3 mannequins and was inspired to mosaic a female torso, with trees wrapped around her body. This was the first large piece that I had attempted to work on and after many hours "Mother Nature" was complete and exhibited at the Long Gallery, Montsalvat (2/4/14 - 11/5/14). It was with mixed emotions that this piece was sold and I was fortunate to be the recipient of the People's Choice Award, for this piece.
"Mother Nature" exhibited in the Long Gallery, Montsalvat, Eltham as part of Thou Art Mum Group Exhibition, Branching Out, 2014. Nominated as People's Choice Award winner.
The next Thou Art Mum Exhibition for 2014 was "On the Surface" at Gasworks Art Park, Albert Park, with the theme exploring pattern and texture. For this exhibition I was inspired to produce 3 works combining the contrast of mosaic with printed retro material. I entered 3 pieces for this exhibition and these were also the first framed mosaic pieces that I produced, taking my work to a new level.
In addition to producing mosaic works, I taught myself how to bead and create jewellery. I like to wear a variety of colorful pieces of jewellery and found that it was difficult to find unique pieces to accessorise with my outfits. This prompted me to experiment with a variety of materials including gems, thai silver and rare vintage belt buckles. I have created and sold many pieces of jewellery, including earrings, rings, bracelets and necklaces.
My jewellery and mosaic creations became popular and with quite a few sales happening I decided to create Fickle Nellie a business selling unique one of a kind pieces. I then opened an online store with Etsy in 2013 - https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/FickleNellie.
I have tried a few different sales approaches including sales within the home (party plan style) and a few different markets. Sales and marketing is still an area that I will be focussing more energy on, with a shop opening on this website very soon.