A lovely gallery in the pretty town of Walcha. The current exhibition is of Barbara Mackay's paintings. Adjoining the gallery is a beautiful guest house. Walcha is a town where a number of prominent artists live and is on the Northern Tablelands adjacent to Apsley Gorge and National Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3_mHJzxtgI
The view from here. John Olsen. On Youtube

After a break to gather my thoughts and get ready to work again things are starting to flow again. My exhibition is up at the moment at the New England Regional Art museum and I am happy with how it has gone. I am happy with the way it looks hung and so far have sold enough to cover my costs. There is a week to go before I take it down. I will then place some works in a couple of galleries. It has been very relaxing not having the pressure of exhibitions in the offing. Hopefully the next year can be spent painting, exploring and "playing".

From my trip to the outback I have brought back many inspirations and ideas of new work. These will be based on the importance of the rock structures as the "bones of the land" (Heysen). The sketches I did while in the MacDonnell Ranges were realistic in the shapes and colours of the fault lines and pitted red sandstone but the resulting paintings may be abstract. The shapes outback are stark, beautifully coloured and awe-inspiring. The problem would be to paint a painting that is not a cliche, that is not a "been there done that". Some images showing the abstract nauture of the landscape