starlight, north coast

It's interesting how things find their way into these paintings. I liked the initial soft background for this one (see the progress shots below), but I was sick and on dosing up on codeine-containing cold tablets, fingerpainting seemed like a good idea. But I hated what I did to it. Fortunately, there are no mistakes in this style of painting - it's all just steps on the way, and sometimes things that feel wrong lead you on to something that feels very very right in the end.

I liked the 'ice flower' stage (the third progress photo), but it wasn't finished, and I didn't know where to go from there. And then the phone call came that my uncle had died suddenly, and quick plans were made to get my parents to the north coast for the funeral. This was complicated by health issues, including mum having had a shoulder replacement just days before, so I volunteered to help with the driving.

The stars in the country are so much more significant, without the light pollution of urban development, and it's cane fire season up north (my uncle was a sugar cane farmer), and on my return, both these elements made their way into the painting, together with the stark skeletons of trees left from bushfires - a familiar sight along Australian roads.

starlight, north coast.
Acrylic on stretched canvas, varnished, unframed. 30 x 15 inches. $AU240.00.