'along the uralla road'

'along the uralla road' / 30" x 24" / traditional / acrylic on canvas panel / sold - brussels, belgium
this scene is from thunderbolt's way, on the salisbury plain between uralla and walcha, new south wales, australia...this land is premier fine wool sheep country...the sun is setting and catching all the trees in late autumn with claret colouring the whole landscape...forest gums are in the foreground and native grasses - spear grass and some wallaby grass...the light is streaming across the country and has a fluidity that gleams, touching everything with a golden glow...autumn is dry in this area so everything is parched...and in may this will have a green tinge...the dead tree on the left is a peppermint gum that has been stripped of its leaves by scarab beetles...

'blue gums'

'blue gums' / 24" x 36" / semi-abstract / acrylic on canvas panel - available
this is from the bulga forest on the way to the bulga plateau in the falls country, as you go down to the coast from the tablelands in new south wales, australia...you drive for an hour through these trees...we were driving along an old logging road and there were a couple of mother trees that had been left,...underneath there were hundreds of sapplings streaming up into the sky 30 or 40 metres to reach the light...we call this area tall trees country...you can see some brush turkeys that make their nests out of vegetation which heats up and incubates their eggs....and there are paddy melons (similar to  a small wallaby), the beautiful regent bower birds that are yellow and black, a lot of big goannas up to 1 and 1/2 metres long, some old echidnas wandering through looking for ants...in the early days my father used to run cattle in the forest here...they used to have the man from snowy river races through the trees...

'spring'

'spring' / 14" x 18" / semi-abstract / acrylic on stretched canvas / sold - gloucester, australia

this painting is from the season's series...its a representation of the fecundity of spring...all the buds are shooting out, animals scampering around, birds quarreling over the females...it is bright and dripping with lushness...i was listening to the four seasons by vivaldi and was inspired to do some small paintings of the seasons...this was painted from feeling rather than any location...

'sand dunes, broken hill'

'sand dunes, broken hill' / 36" x 30" / semi abstract / stretched canvas on internal frame / sold - gloucester, australia
we went out to broken hill, new south wales, australia hunting wild pigs and i was taken by the sand dunes that ran south to north...the landscape has a delicate feel to it...the dunes have stabilised and there is vegetation all through...when it rains the wildflowers bloom...the sand dunes run away to the horizon like gentle undulating waves...covered by gorgeous azure blue skies...kind of desolate feel but has lots of wildlife that come out in the early morning and late evening due to the heat of the day...it's hot dry country...

'morning sun'

 

'morning sun' / 18"x 24" / semi abstract / stretched canvas on internal frame / available
from a series of four depicting different times of the day - morning sun, midday, sunset and midnight...the sun was just rising over the horizon and i felt the euphoria of being there to see it rising over the hill...the light rays were streaming down the hill like water...it was a joyful feeling getting up early in the morning...the dappled sunlight was splashed all over the eastward facing trees and shrubs like droplets of gold...

'rock pool'

'rock pool' /  48" x 36" / semi-abstract / acrylic on hardboard / sold - zurich, switzerland

this painting is from the bottom of the apsley gorge near walcha, new south wales, australia...the river has over time gouged out a large gorge and because it floods periodically all the stones are washed and polished into fantastic shapes...i was trying to get the ancient feel of the area with the shape and forms with a fractured background that is dark and gloomy...it feels quite barren...but the river is teeming with animal life with eels and fish swimming up and down river...it's like a moonscape -  polished and weathered...