Original available $600

53.3 W x 33.5 H X 4cm D

Textural, palette knife and brush painted in acrylic on deep gallery canvas, professionally framed in  Australian Raw Oak.

A piece of Australia outback. Iron Knob, South Australia January 2022. These sculptural trees dance across the arid lands as you get closer to the desert outback of Eyre in South Australia. This one tree by the creek bed, she beckoned me to come close to her. I walked in the February heat, watching the ants scurry amidst the ochre sands, knowing I would paint her. She was a stand out amongst so many on the Iron Knob to Kimba Road.

The outback “wattle” have distinctive silver green mop tops and etched dark trunks, each full of their own character. Seemingly swaying on a day with no breeze at all. South Australia arid landscape is a place like nowhere else in the world. A place of solitude, nearby to sunlit emerald oceans, that edge the ochre rich desert lands. Above her that day were waves of white clouds, streaking across the rich clear blue sky and below her the straw coloured grasses anchored, yet with so much movement. Sprouting from the red earth and armies of ants amongst them.

I challenge myself with varied techniques in the application of paint to find. Exploring the palette knife marks and fan brush to achieve the texture nature so beautifully displays in these trees and grasses. Adding the contrast of smooth brush stokes for the summer sky and balance to the rugged bark of her slender dancing branches.