Before I arrived in Australia I assumed I would go straight to the desert and paint the sort of iconic (to Brits at least) Australian landscape that I had seen in galleries and art books. I assumed I would need a lot of red paint. I settled in Melbourne, then in Ballarat and so far, ten years later, I’ve rarely been out of Victoria, such is the variety of landscape that this state contains. These two paintings are from the Otways, a hilly region west of Melbourne near the coast covered in temperate rain forest. Little red paint required in this environment.
And yes, I’ve been to the desert twice so far. Both times it rained.
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Thanks Helene. The light in this forest is rather special. It’s close to the coast and gets a lot of changeable weather, so one often finds oneself standing in gloom looking at a brightly lit patch of forest ahead. Often, when it’s windy, the patches of sunlight move through the forest quite quickly and act almost like spotlights. Beautiful.
I wish so much that I had painted Otways III. I particularly love the blue reflected light.