My name is Gillian-Kaye Peebles (formerly Aitken, nee Easton) – I include all my three surnames as most of my accolades are under the surname of Aitken.
I grew up in a little-known community called Dinninup, part of the Boyup Brook Shire, tucked away in the south-west corner of Australia. I had a wonderful, enjoyable upbringing on a large mixed farming property, named ‘Darling Hill, named after ‘Governor Darling ‘, by the famous explorer, & politician, Sir John Forrest, Western Australia’s first Premier.
I became heavily involved in the day-to-day workings of the property, Where I learned how to class wool, handle stock and trapped for rabbit skins to gain pocket money to buy Art materials
In that wonderful environment I developed a passion for the arts at a very early age. Maybe too young & too passionate as my mother would tell a story of my first artwork, being a mural that stretched the full length of the house’s white plastered passageway executed in her lipsticks. Very hard to remove. I was about 18 months old.
I was nine years old when I won my first art award and attracted my first newspaper article. This achievement inspired me to research and learn all I could at the time about
art. A passion that has given me a successful career and has taken me all over the world.
