You are about to enter a virtual exhibition featuring 16 oil paintings that celebrate Australian nature. Each was inspired by the artist’s brief encounters with the subjects – you can read a short summary of the encounter by clicking on the painting. Please enjoy!

Introduction

There is nobody on this bike path and no distractions which is probably why I notice the branch of a gum tree with snow-white bark reaching out over a fence as if it’s waiting to scruff my hair with its long twig fingers as I walk by.

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There is a wallaby fifteen meters away in the scrub, already staring right at me. It is using the same technique I’m using to go unnoticed – standing completely still. Had it panicked and hopped away I would have seen it immediately.

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We’re deep into spring and the lorikeets have found homes where there are hollows in trunks at the crowns of these trees, sometimes competing with other birds like corellas. This one’s lover is hiding close to the trunk beneath the cover of the palm leaves with just its head popping out.

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This exhibition features oil paintings created in 2019-20 that were inspired by my encounters with nature in Australia. The exhibition will be available to view on this site between August 14 and October 1.