This was my first experience at making the finals of an art award - wow such a cool and uplifting experience too.

The painting I entered was titled “A Living Tree”, which is my take on the tree of life. The tree of life has got to be one of the best symbols around, so much meaning around it.

Creating is always exciting but for this piece I pushed the boundaries and became totally engrossed in my happy place. The challenge was to see if I could create a harmonious artwork inspired by several different artists. The subject just a plain old poplar tree on our farm. I was fascinated by the fluffy seeds that lay below it.

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who works with repetitive patterns, especially circles. The fluffy seeds that lie below the tree are depicted in the white circles; circles that suggest a life cycle with no beginning or end.

The Leaves I took from David Hockney’s statement “it’s all about the mark making” and the background trees are inspired by Dick Frizzell’s effective simple shapes.

I am a lover of colour and pattern in art and the trunk of the tree has been inspired by both Gustav Klimt and Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

Being able to display your work next so many wonderful and very capable artists is such an encouraging feeling as an artist. Following the awards ceremony all of those present were let into the finalists exhibition at once, this is an experience I will never forget, one of great anticipation.