Tamara was born into an artistic and musical family. She studied fine arts at RMIT in Melbourne and moved to Sydney to work as a *Cell Painter and background artists for Hanna Barbara Studios. In pursuit of a career change, Tamara moved back to Melbourne to teach classical and jazz piano. After 20 years she felt drawn to go back to art and was involved in commercial and graphic art as well as illustration.

"I find one of the most striking aspects of art is colour and its ability to affect the way we feel. Bright colours can lift our mood, colour and shape can make us reflective or happy, or even make us see things from a different point of view. Art is my passion and I could not begin to imagine what life would be like without it. If my work makes one person smile, than I am happy, if my work makes one person look at life with different eyes and open their minds and hearts to new ideas, then I am delighted."

Q & A:

What is the biggest risk you ever took? Taking on a job as an air hostess for a charter flight company when I was terrified of heights.

Do you have a useless talent - and what is it? Hahahaha, I do...I can make some amazing chicken noises when they lay an egg. I'm still working on laying the egg.

How do you prefer to exercise?I love walking along the Noosa beach, feeling the sand in between my toes, the warmth of the water, and also walking through rainforests. Any walks through nature.

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? I think I'd love to be able to sing.

Where did you grow up? We grew up in outer Melbourne on a chicken farm.

Who is the Artist who inspires you most? Ever since art school I've always enjoyed Brett Whiteley's work for its originality and his slightly different way of looking at life. His bright colour palette has been so inspiring.

Do you collect anything? I collect chickens. Not the real ones but ornamental chickens from all over the world, Japan, Israel, France, Mexico...

If you could time travel, to which historical era would you go and why?I think I'd like the 1920's, there was so much change happening from old to new.

What is on your Bucket list? I would love to go back to Paris and visit all the wonderful art galleries.

Who is the one person you would love to have dinner with in the whole universe? Beethoven...(before he went deaf of course!) I think he was a genius.

Click on 'Learn More' below to discover what *Cell Painting is all about.