In Wattle #1, I draw upon the luminous, unassuming presence of the Australian bushland — those moments when the golden sprays of wattle emerge, quietly commanding attention against the backdrop of gum-belt forms and the shifting light of inland reserves. Rooted in my own walks around the hills and river-plain near Albury, the painting evokes not a straightforward depiction but an invitation: to linger, to see what otherwise might slip by unnoticed.
 
Here, oil and wax on board serve as both medium and metaphor. The waxing process allows the surface to hold memory, to retain that moment of glinting light, and then that deeper shadow beneath. The board’s dimension (60 cm × 42 cm) echoes the human scale of the bush as I experience it — intimate enough to walk through, wide enough to breathe in. The deconstruction and re-assembly of forms (sprigs of wattle, gum branches, the ground beneath) reflect my practice of allowing the land to speak through pattern, colour and gesture rather than narrative.
 
My intention is for the viewer to first register the familiar — the golden blossom of wattles, the whisper of leaves — and then to be drawn in closer to observe: how the yellow shines, how the branches curve, how the waxed surface holds a trace of gesture. It is a gentle challenge: to reflect on the “every-day” bush, that which lies outside the heroic vista, and to find in its nuance an enduring beauty and resilience.
 
In Wattle #1, I hope to evoke a sense of immersion — not simply of landscape seen, but of landscape felt; a place that is both present and remembered. The work asks: how might we regard the overlooked? And what does it mean when we choose to stop, to notice, to hold that moment of quiet growth and light in our mind’s eye?
Oil and wax on board  60cm x 42cm