I thought, wow, we have to get this kid into music so I looked around for a music teacher and Solomon began learning the ukulele. ​

At first she was reluctant to share her accolades. 
 
‘I’d rather talk about the present, than who I was then,’ she said. ​

The books on her shelf are about poetry, philosophy, and anthropology. A guitar stands in the corner that she plays on occasion, and a woodturning she created from a course on the gold coast, adorns her simple shelf. 

We sat on her back deck and sketched. ​

I seek my expression through art. I lean towards figurative and portraits. I love capturing people. I am fascinated by their subtleties. I spend a lot of time in healing and learn more about myself. I move in and out of dimensions. I visit past lives. I do a lot of clearing work and tap into ancestral connections. 
​I kept drawing and writing. I write and illustrate books and attend Atelier Art classes in Brisbane.
I love traditional art for its capacity to bring me into a new space and time. I love the impressionists and post-impressionists because they are fresh and present. My faves are Singer-Sargant and Monet. I also love many current working and living Australian artists, and I believe that I’ve been taught and worked alongside some of Australia’s best artists.

​In 2011 Richard invited me to be interviewed on a series about Brisbane Artists for TV channel Bris31. High Time was about showcasing artists and their work. It was a great interview and I talked about how I write about emotions and healing through yoga. I had created a book for educators called Yoga for Little Bears. We discussed how mental health influenced my work and the difficulties I had experienced several years before when my daughters and I were homeless. ​

My work always has a component of what I am going through or have been through. 

'Sorry' and 'My Mother in Dresden' 

Toby and Monica on the set 'The Third Commandant'.

Director, writer and producer Richard Lancaster with Monica Batiste

Our first interview in his office, I take several photos and do some sketching. While I am there, Col Trethaway comes in to talk about Richards upcoming documentary. I am invited to have my portrait filmed during it's process. It sounds very exciting. 

I sketch onto the canvas in charcoal and I make many changes. Even after I have decided what is where and how it will look, I make changes. I paint Richard inside a movie set, then I paint the movie set out and paint in more sky. 

Richard and I go on Radio station 99.7 to talk about the Brisbane Portrait Prize

August 7th 2019
I invite Richard for my 'Painting Reveal'. 
I am nervous and start to have self-doubt about my work. What if it isn’t good enough? What if he doesn’t like it?
Richard came with his beautiful partner, Gabrielle, also an artist. I was sweating. Catherine Cox came to film. The Redcliffe Herald came to interview and gave us a lovely piece in the local paper.

There is a sheet over my painting as I begin my introductions. 

I talk about Richard, my process, and my painting.
 
'This portrait of movie producer/director, journalist, author and activist Richard Lancaster, in my mind reflects the vibrancy of modern day Brisbane. Arriving in Brisbane 52 years ago from India, the then 30 year old entrepreneur set about establishing a series of Brisbane based businesses, which pioneered private enterprise management recruitment and training as well as celebrity management in Queensland. His last client was Queensland’s longest serving premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson, whose ghostly figure features in the portrait’s background and whom Richard assisted with his post political career. More recently, he played a major part in re-introducing the Bee Gees phenomenon back into the local Redcliffe scene.
Subsequently, he created several successful businesses involved with the production of television programs and movies for both local and overseas consumption. His activism covers such diverse causes as the successful banning of proposed fish farming in Moreton Bay, successfully preserving the endangered Moreton Bay dugong herd and more recently, establishing The Gayundah Preservation Society, which is dedicated to preserving the remains of the 19th century warship HMQS Gayundah, which was instrumental in saving colonial Queensland from an imperial Russian invasion in the 1880’s. He is a published author and is a regular columnist to several Brisbane newspapers and magazines, one of which celebrates it’s 20th birthday, this year. '