I stand in front of the blank surface. I remember something - a memory, a kind of dream. I dredge things up from somewhere deep. Then it spills out onto the canvas, the paper.

It sometimes begins with a string of words, or an overheard snippet of conversation will spark images that excite me and a fully fledged painting will appear.

Same thing with music. An overflow from one art form to another. I dream a lot, so the life I see through the Oneiric door is full of interest for me and I hope makes connections with the viewer, at least on an unconscious level.

Over the last thirty years I have developed a visual language or dictionary.

Certain symbols recurr regularly then disappear for a while, then pop up again when needed. I also collect other peoples written detritus found on the street, a shopping list, a letter or something deeply personal. I value these, they make me wonder about people. These also find their way into my work.

Sometimes it flows, sometimes, more often, after the first idea it is hard work and I never really know how it will finish.

Over the past thirty years Lyn Harrison has established a reputation as a most unique and original Australian artist.

She says of her practice 'Making art is like following a map that is continually unrolling just a little in front of me - not knowing where I am or what is ahead until I have covered that bit of land. Or like going down blindly into a deep mine and dredging up a pile of rubbish and finding unexpected treasure'.

Lyn Harrison has exhibited widely and is represented in many collections. She has been selected for the Sulman exhibition AGNSW and the Portia Geach portrait prize.