From the moment Merilyn could hold a pencil she loved to paint and draw. She was lucky to have a great teacher who encouraged her all through her school years. Upon leaving school with the highest pass she studied at the National Art School. Studying life drawing under Godfrey Miller. She later worked in advertising with artist Guy Warren and writer Bryce Courtenay.

After returning from a stint in Germany Merilyn studied teaching and then went on to teach art in Sydney for ten years. It was during this period she taught the 2011 Archibald Prize winner Ben Quilty. In 1991 she moved to the Mudgee / Gulgong region and continued to teach art in local schools.

The move to the country gave Merilyn the opportunity to develop her art  in many mediums.  While Merilyn’s favourite subject matter is probable portraiture she also loves depicting animals and landscape and country life. She is a noted horse artist painting both the races and working horses.

Merilyn met noted landscape artist Allan Fizzel and joined him and fellow landscape artists on plein air trips in the region. This is something she still enjoys doing and she organises weekly trips painting as well as the ‘Painters@mudgee’ week where landscape artists from all over Australia come to Mudgee to paint and then show their works at a local exhibition space.

Merilyn is very active in the local arts community and is a strong advocate of arts in the region. She has been involved with many of the art organisations.

Merilyn and her work has twice been featured in Artists Pallet Magazine.

Her work is included in many private collections in Australia, UK, Germany and the US and her artworks have been hung in many prestigious exhibitions including:
• Blake prize
• the Outback Archies twice, where her work was selected in the travelling show
• the Willoughby Art Prize
• the Lexus Mortimer Prize
• the Equine Art Prize