My name is Geoff Dossetor. I was born in 1967 in Melbourne and lived there until completing my education. Throughout secondary school I was particularly interested in sport and graphic design. I decided to pursue my love of sport and eventually graduated from university with studies in Physical Education and teaching.

I had been interested in Hang Gliding for some time and after completing university I took some lessons. Immediately hooked on flying, I spent as much time Hang Gliding as possible over the next twelve years. My flying passion became my job when I started instructing in the early Nineties.

I introduced over 5000 people to Hang Gliding through instruction and by taking them tandem flying, most of which I did living in Queenstown, New Zealand. I was quite successful in various forms of Hang Gliding competition, representing both Australia and New Zealand, winning two World Cup events and several national championships throughout the world. I appeared in television productions featuring Hang Gliding and wrote regular articles for magazines, sometimes with cartoons I had sketched.

After years of flying safely, a freak accident in 2001 changed my life. A passenger’s arm swung through and struck my neck when we stopped suddenly upon landing. Fortunately my passenger was uninjured but I had been left a quadriplegic. While many aspects of my life dissolved around me, I was introduced to painting in 2005 using a brush held in my mouth. I sent some of my early acrylic paintings to the New Zealand branch of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA). I was fortunate enough to be offered a student membership of the MFPA in 2007. I learnt a great deal from several local artists around where I lived in Queenstown, NZ, attempting a variety of paintings using oils and also gouache. I still receive advice from those mentors over the Internet.

I returned to live in Melbourne towards the end of 2007. Being a solo parent of my young daughter, I wanted to be closer to family and friends from where I grew up. During the time it took to settle back into city life, I decided to concentrate on oil paintings. Though I had moved from an area of natural beauty, there are many inspirations for my art around Melbourne. Shops, galleries, parks, buildings and local events all capture my imagination. I like to take art classes and sometimes join with painting groups, though mostly I paint at home. The AGRA Gallery is very close so I see a new realist exhibition every fortnight amongst many others taking place regularly throughout Melbourne. I can often be seen speeding around the Camberwell area in my wheelchair with my daughter riding on my lap on the way to one of her many activities.

I enjoy painting landscapes, real and imaginary scenes, buildings, people and the occasional flower. I imagine I will always be learning and developing my skills, knowledge and artistic tastes. I still consider myself very much at the beginning of my artistic journey.