Australian Bushfire

Australia has been long recognized Internationally for its bushfires, floods and drought.
In 2020, Australia experienced it's worst bushfire disaster in its history.
The devastation on our flora and fauna, as well as the impact on local residents and emergency services, will be felt for a long time.
But despite the loss of over a billion animals including koalas, kangaroo and wallaby, reptiles, birds, bees, butterflies and endangered species, the Australian bush is known for its flora to quickly
regenerate.
It will be different this time though due to the loss of entire local ecosystems because the wildfires were of such extreme intensity. The speed of the fires advance, the scale and huge heights the flames and heat reached and the much higher and extreme temperatures, has wiped out many species of animal and plants.
This painting captures the intensity of the fires.
Of particular interest has been the television coverage of surviving koalas.
Whilst thousands of koalas were lost during the fires, I have included in this painting, two adult koalas and their young joey, in the foreground, representing the survival and future re-establishment of our much loved and iconic marsupial.

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Inspired by the Australian landscape, Andrew has a love for life, our beaches, forests, outback plains and wildlife.
He loves old architecture, urban design and Australian landmarks, which are emerging as a key focus of his paintings.
His work reveals a strong sense of humour, personal reflection and love of everything linked to Australia, it's history, its peoples and culture.
Born in Albury, New South Wales, Andrew spent many weekends boating and camping on the banks of local rivers, hiking through the lower Snowy Mountains, sleeping in old shearing sheds near Tallangatta, fishing with his father on the Hume Dam, inland western rivers of NSW and family holidays to Victoria's Mornington Peninsula and Bermagui on the South Coast of New South Wales.
Educated in the public school system, Andrew learnt to appreciate life as a boy from the bush who became an artist. He started sketching in the late 60's and attended art school at Albury's Technical College. Learning along the way with a variety of experiences enriched through amateur stage shows, the military, a career in new home design and sales and twenty years in public office.
Andrew has his studio and teaches adults to sketch, paint and explore their inner creative, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
Enjoy his unique and quirky individual style including the emu series, outback landscapes and Australian icons with a notably different style, perspective and use of colour.