ArtView March 2015 | Page 64

Flame tree in morning light I fitted in well with my new environment, but it wildflowers all around me. This realisation has was many years before I started to really appreciate taken me into a state of higher awareness of the the landscape that was all around me here in beauty, light and the delicacy of the colours and Sydney. Although I didn’t realize it, I had been shapes of our native flowers. The light in Australia looking at the world around me though the eyes of a has a clarity and intensity that is unique – and the European, albeit a very romantic one. The work I flowers stand out vividly against the surrounding was doing, including some large commissions, was ochre and near-white of the sandstone soil in which mainly figurative, depicting the human drama of life they grow. in various different themes. What opened my eyes to the amazing, subtle During the last two years I have embarked on three monumental circles depicting the full glory of beauty and untamed energy of the Australian bush a day in the Australian bush. The first circle (titled was a walk in one of the many national parks Morning Light) comprises 25 canvases, with a around Sydney several years ago. In a split second, circumference of 100 feet (30.5 metres). It depicts I saw the light and colours in the array of the awakening of the day, starting with pre-dawn