in 2019 I won the Hawkesbury Art Prize, and part of the winnings was a residency at an estate in the Blue Mountains near Bilpin and Kurrajong Heights. The area had suffered greatly during the bushfires of 2019/2020, and was both horrifying and captivating. In some areas there was regrowth, but other areas remained very bleak indeed. I spent a lot of time bushwalking, drawing and taking photographs, enthralled with the terrain and the tortured flora. This particular artwork is of a particular hill that is visible from a ridge called 'The Edge of the World'. The ridge is north of a place called Mountain Lagoon, about 15km from Bilpin. The top of the hill had been badly burned, the trees were black, while the vegetation on the sides had mostly been spared. The trees on top had fresh regrowth, which made me call the hill 'Rogaine Hill', and I kept returning to it to sketch and take photos. It was a stark symbol for the recent destruction, as well as being a sign of hope for regeneration.
The artwork is on 12mm thick marine ply, cradled with pieces of timber to give it more depth. The base layer includes pages from Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species - since the artwork depicts a great challenge to nature, I thought that appropriate. The text gives an extra degree of depth to the image above, which is comprised of linoprints, charcoal, ink pen, pencil, and washes of acrylic paint. The artwork is ready to hang without needing to be framed, but please be aware that it's quite heavy.
A dramatic, powerful piece about nature's beauty and vulnerability.