Dawn Dust

The drought-affected landscapes I travelled through during my If fabrics could speak... regional tour for Adelaide Fringe this year were a silent underscore to the stories shared. These landscapes, so integrally a part of the fabric of lives lived waiting for rain, pulled me to the easel. Painted Alla Prima in oil on canvas, the dry topsoil is embedded in the textured, swiftly painted surface. In the dawn light, sheep kicked clouds of dust in the grassless paddocks as the tress and far hills blurred into dreamscapes. The skies, clear of any cloud, heralded no relief. The current drought and endless dust coating the land, underpinned the stories shared during the ‘If fabrics could speak…’ tour of the north. Grief trembled in voices, lives in suspension, like dust motes in air awaiting rain. Other works in the series can be viewed at my Open Studio 'Always Looking'.