I have been fortunate to travel north through the dry interior of South Australia this year, past the usual farming areas I have immersed myself with during my recent PhD studies at UniSA. The landscape beguiled me, again, and has stayed in my thoughts. The four sketches were made with a sort of cathartic, spontaneous, immediacy after a return from Marree. It secured a notion of South Australia’s unique beauty in my own mind.

The second series of still lives, painted plein air around my home, underline the ongoing practices of making do, and inventing new creative expressions with what resources are available. This is a mind-set that has been handed to me from my ancestors, and one which I am pleased to carry forward.