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40x60cm 2020
From storms to the quiet prelude of the morning. This painting was done in late October after the strict Victorian lockdown ended. We were able to journey more than 5km from home we visited the R J Hamer Arboretum at Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges. The R.J. Hamer Arboretum land is a small part of the original Dandenong and Woori Yallock State forest, proclaimed over 110 years ago.
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40x60cm 2020
The climate change aspect that is visible to most is the increasing volatility of land based weather patterns. In this painting a storm emerges and takes a human/animal shape as it wreaks havoc across a food producing region. Climate change, vicious and violent weather conditions, earthquakes, movements in Earth’s tectonic plates, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, heating and cooling have always been a part of our Earth’s continuous natural evolution. Today, the environmental discussions now focus, not on the natural evolutionary changes, but on the fast-paced climate change and global warming caused by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, waste pollution on land and in particular the seas, degradation of seas and land used for food production causing food shortages, famine, massive increases in peoples being displaced and the list goes on.
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40x60cm 2020
These two paintings, It's a riddle wrapped in an enigma, who has a key?; and We’re chasing our tail, represent the antithesis to the philosophy that man’s “moral greatness” can control nature. Perhaps man can occasionally mediate or to repair damage made. Man can attempt or seek to control nature, through science, technology, sheer brute force, but at what cost to either upstream or downstream or both – in every sense. The riddle quote is taken from Winston Churchill 1939 BBC broadcast said “I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia.
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40x40cm 2020
Spring came early and with the flowering of the Kangaroo Paws came the wisteria blooms overnight falling making a new bed of compost for the next season. Nature feeding Nature. Something we can all learn from. The bright early morning spring light has cast the Wisteria blooms on the paving as fallen snow.
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40x40cm 2020
The dark early morning winter’s sky caught a flock of King Parrots feeding on the tips of the Pin Oak. Food is scarce after the fires and smoke damage so the birds are foraging where they can.
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40x60cm 2020
The north facing lakeside studio is with large deciduous trees on the south side is an ideal location to contemplate the wonders of nature. The summer northerlies bring up choppy waves as the sun lights up the treetops. Autumn has started early this year and the leaves are starting to turn. Summer azaleas and roses continue to bloom, and I suspect a cold winter ahead.
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40x60cm 2020
During the 2019/2020 Australian summer, bush fires raved much of the country. The fires were brought to a conclusion through fire-fighting efforts, but in the main through massive rain falls. This painting illustrates one such deluge on a dystopian landscape. The deluge on a fire ravaged landscape, whilst assisting in the controlling and elimination of the fire can cause even more damage to land and infrastructure and create further problems for rescue and future reconstruction.
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40x40cm 2020
My birthday coincides with the blooming of our larger Orchids. My wife presented this Orchid cane full of blooms to me on my Birthday. This orchid lives under our Wisteria trees and is mostly left to its own ways. When it blooms it usually throws a number of canes full of beautiful flower. I painted this cane against a dark velvety backdrop to enhance the spirit of Spring’s renewal emerging after a dark Winter’s slumber.
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50x100cm 2020
If both parties to a dispute bring an olive branch, are willing to hear each other’s point of view, are capable of reaching a consensus, have the power and authority (of factions within their jurisdiction) to make binding decisions, and can carry the weight of their populous they are capable of making transformational and beneficial decision for all parties. This may relate to climate change, war (military, land or trade), use of natural recourses and so on. In this painting the parties of conflict and the parties of conciliation are each bringing an olive branch to the table with the objective of reaching an mutual consensus on reducing the effects of climate change.
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40x60cm 2020
An early Spring morning, the clouds were inky blue and thickening. The sun low on the horizon threw a cool yellow light. A storm soon arriving. After a warm winter it looked like lower-than-average temperatures were upon us. I wanted an abstracted view of the landscape, the heavily laden clouds, the sunny breaks, the shifts in the wind a glimpse of the built environment, all of which added to a sense of the drama of the approaching storm. The wonder of nature’s power.
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40x60cm 2020
The notice board is fast changing from plenty to drought, fire and famine. What is to be done?
