Title: The Creek in the Otway Forest
Type: Paper Scroll
Size: 75 cm x 392 cm (h x w)
Media: Watercolour, mixed media, soil and water from the source on archival cotton paper.
Date: March 2021
Status: Available
Price: INQUIRE (Contact Form)
Type: Paper Scroll
Size: 75 cm x 392 cm (h x w)
Media: Watercolour, mixed media, soil and water from the source on archival cotton paper.
Date: March 2021
Status: Available
Price: INQUIRE (Contact Form)
Details
Artist Statement
Discovering my way through the forest, I heard this trickle of water. Looking up, I noticed a valley cutting through the escarpment, deep into the Otway forest. After asking for permission, I entered and kept on going further and further, until I reached a place of peace. I felt this oneness with everything around me, interconnected with all the living beings in this part of the forest. It was as though all of my senses heightened to a state of wholeness with the earth, with the cosmos. I realised that in the same way that the stream of life which runs through my veins night and day, runs through the veins of the forest. These creeks and rivers, and the energy flows through visible matter and non-visible forms of life. This is indeed a special place. Without fear, the forest life reveals itself to me. As I touched the damp forest floor under the Large Skirted Tree Ferns (Alsophila x marcescens), damp smells embraced me, and a Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) announced its territory to me. Content, I pressed the cotton paper scroll down into the creek water.
In front of me, an Otway Black Snail slowly crossed my path. The Otway Black Snail (Victaphanta compacta) is only found in the cool temperate forests of the Otway Ranges. Human-induced climate change may pose a threat to the survival of this unique snail species. I ask myself, what will I do to help this little fellow? Maybe if all of us became more aware of the narratives of all living beings, and tell their stories, the wonders of their habitats, homo sapiens may choose to change their behaviours to save these fragile forests of our world. I immersed myself in my painting, unaware of the passage of time.
I was unaware of two Leeches that had attached themselves to my leg. Only hours later, when they let go, did I realise that another interaction with nature had occurred – “Man went deep into nature, and nature connected deep into man.”
Discovering my way through the forest, I heard this trickle of water. Looking up, I noticed a valley cutting through the escarpment, deep into the Otway forest. After asking for permission, I entered and kept on going further and further, until I reached a place of peace. I felt this oneness with everything around me, interconnected with all the living beings in this part of the forest. It was as though all of my senses heightened to a state of wholeness with the earth, with the cosmos. I realised that in the same way that the stream of life which runs through my veins night and day, runs through the veins of the forest. These creeks and rivers, and the energy flows through visible matter and non-visible forms of life. This is indeed a special place. Without fear, the forest life reveals itself to me. As I touched the damp forest floor under the Large Skirted Tree Ferns (Alsophila x marcescens), damp smells embraced me, and a Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) announced its territory to me. Content, I pressed the cotton paper scroll down into the creek water.
In front of me, an Otway Black Snail slowly crossed my path. The Otway Black Snail (Victaphanta compacta) is only found in the cool temperate forests of the Otway Ranges. Human-induced climate change may pose a threat to the survival of this unique snail species. I ask myself, what will I do to help this little fellow? Maybe if all of us became more aware of the narratives of all living beings, and tell their stories, the wonders of their habitats, homo sapiens may choose to change their behaviours to save these fragile forests of our world. I immersed myself in my painting, unaware of the passage of time.
I was unaware of two Leeches that had attached themselves to my leg. Only hours later, when they let go, did I realise that another interaction with nature had occurred – “Man went deep into nature, and nature connected deep into man.”