SECOND PLACE - Aspects Art Show Goondiwindi 2024.
The Gums of the Paroo River painting was developed after a solo trip to Cunnamulla - an eight and a half hour drive from my home. The drive was long, bumpy and the scenery constantly changing as I observed the landscape turn from suburbia, to semi-country towns and finally to complete outback vistas, with red soil.
Outback Queensland comprises a different ambience to what we are adapted to in the cities. I spent several days capturing the beauty of life along the Paroo River. Out west is what can be called truly wild Australia. Some of the bird species were familiar to me, whereas many of the birds (and trees) I saw were spotted for the first time. Mulga parrots, red-winged parrots, pink-eared ducks, Australian ringnecks, treecreepers, and many more, which will be depicted in my paintings in due course.
This scene, although a reconstruction of a landscape, is faithful to the feeling one experiences along the Paroo. Old, twisted, river red gums line the river bank. Their natural beauty created by the earthy tones of their bark and the soil and sand that is reflected on their surface. The pink-eared duck is symbolic of my time as a solo artist in pursuit of subjects.