Signals from a mountain

Falls Creek residency, Feb/March 2022

In February 2022, I needed a break from the Wimmera and the Pandemic and to paint from the top of a mountain. On the drive up to Falls Creek, there was radio news that Russia had just invaded Ukraine, then on arriving I was told that the critical Bogong Moths are dying en-route from wheat field pesticide sprays. My parents had just died and I realized my previous visit was 30 years prior.

In the first studio hours, I found a dead Bogong Moth on the window sill, drew it and carved out a crude woodblock to print. Then in the following weeks, I embedded it into paintings via the 1.3 tonnes of my Volvo wagon.

A few days in I drove down into Pretty Valley and began painting, spreadeagled on the rocky ground looking out over the lake - the first of a series of multi panel paintings. Given the wash of the last 3 decades and what was currently going down, it felt like some sort of ritual marking time, change and loss.

My friend Jack traveled with me to Falls Creek and on the final day attempted to signal from the car park. Jack lightened things up ... he is the inaugural and ongoing participant in my Small Van Artist Residency for Non-Artists, launched 2020.