Simpsons Gap 2. Acrylic and mixed media on canvas. 2009 122cmx152cm

The fires burnt for weeks and burnt out thousands of hectares of the countryside. Only now rain has eased the situation and the fires are under control again. I am putting here an image of a larger work that I had in my exhibition in Brisbane this year. It is based on Simpson's Gap in the Northern Territory. Next year I am to have an exhibition at the New England Regional Art Gallery and also one at the Dubbo Regional Gallery. I have started working towards them and am finding that my work is becoming both more specific in it's focus but at the same time more abstract in style. I am again working in oils. I am using wax medium a bit now. It gives a richness to the paint but is very slow drying. Over the Christmas/New Year break I should have time to get more long stretches of time in which to work. I have just been to see an exhibition of work by Lloyd Hornsby which I liked very much. It is on at the Armidale Aboriginal Keeping Place. A link to Lloyd's blog is wwwyuinartcom.blogspot.com

This gives an insight into some Aboriginal artists relationship and their expression of their relationship to their country
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/current/the_dreamers/videos

This is one of my recent works based on the NSW bushfires

Crown fire. Acrylic on canvas. 30cm x 30cm

Establishing containment lines. Acrylic on canvas. 30cm x 30cm

NSW fires Acrylic on canvas 30cm x 30cm.

I have continued working on my 30cm x 30cm canvases lately. These are based on the fires in the Inverell area of northern New South Wales. Whilst the people living in the area and the Rural Fire Service were affected the public seemed almost oblivious to the incident. The Rural Fire Service were working around the clock for days in volunteer work that is often not known about by the general public. The fires devastated over 300 hectares of bushland south of Inverell. I will soon go drawing to the blackened areas to see the stark lines of remainding tree skeletons. I think painting a work with form and line but little colour would be interesting. This is one of my latest small canvases