About Me
My name is Clifford Rivalland (but Im Cliff or Cliffy to most).
I am 38 years old, born in the culturally rich city of Melbourne Australia.
Raised there by newly-immigrated French-Mauritian parents, I was privately schooled in middle-class Catholic institutions. I was more academic than ‘sporty’ in nature, but yearned for a creative outlet all my life. Some work in the pop music industry and a bit of local tv, as well as a stint at creative writing, also whet my appetite.
Despite this, I followed expectations to ‘work hard at school, go to uni and get a good job’. In the end, i would end up abandoning two degrees. (dip. Ed. And b.psych.)
I spent a decade traveling the world and working in what i call ‘corporate enslavery’ in various roles with such large firms as IBM and Cable and Wireless (Melbourne and Sydney).
I guess ‘on paper’, it looked like i ‘had it all’, but in reality I would soon face a long battle with clinical depression.
Besides a ‘soulless’ existence characterized by peak-hour commutes and countless hours in office cubicles, it seemed i had some ‘issues to address’… one thing for sure, they could not be given any real focus if I continued to live in my empty corporate life.
So I packed my bags and quit it all. My dog and I moved north to be with my retired parents in the beachside paradise of the sunshine coast in Queensland Australia. This ‘seachange’ was one of the most fundamental aids in my recovery and my return to ‘normal’ mental health.
It took a year to stand on my own again and three years before I was able to get on without professional guidance and antidepressant medication.
Not long after ‘things were right again’ the opportunity to visit cairns in the far north was presented. My first visit here lead to a relocation and now, five years later, i consider myself one of the luckiest people alive.
I make my living creating beautiful things for peoples homes in one of the most wonderful places on earth. Its never too late to discover something in yourself that you never knew existed.
After all, I had never been involved in art before.
Since turning my hand to this pursuit in April 2006, I have sold over 250 works which now hang in homes and resorts in Europe, the Usa, Canada, South America and all over Australia/New zealand.
