A Moment with the Marbles

When we lived in Tennant Creek, NT, going South to Alice Springs was a big deal. Every time we passed the Karlu Karlu or Devils Marbles, we marvelled at their appearance in a flat landscape. We couldn’t stop every time, but when we did, the quiet beauty of the massive granite boulders created calm. We walked around them, winding through spaces created by balancing boulders. Touching them, we felt the day, or millennia, held in their surfaces. Some smooth, some rough, some standing alone, others tumbled together. Each one different. Each one sacred.

I painted this piece with a real sense of gratitude. I enjoyed trying to represent their surfaces and the way the light plays on the rich colours. I also wanted to bring the shadows and spaces into the work. It was in those places we found respite from the heat. We rested, finding laughter in the comfort of the ageless.

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I have worked as a builder, raised children, and kept working steadily since 1989. It wasn’t until a worksite accident in 2018 forced me to pause for two years that I discovered how deeply painting could support the mind, body, and spirit. What began as a way to fill time became a way to restore myself.

Since then, I’ve learned oil and watercolour painting through online study and workshops, finding joy not only in the creative process but also in the community that forms around it. I’m still exploring both mediums and experimenting with different styles, but the one constant is my connection to Australia’s landscapes. They are the places that speak to me most strongly.

My subjects are drawn from the familiar terrain of my life: the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, the Gold Coast of Queensland, the quiet roads of country Victoria, and the vast openness of the Barkly Region in the Northern Territory. I paint in a representational landscape style, guided by a quiet joy in capturing the beauty of scenes that held my attention long after I passed by them.

Often, I’m on the move, rushing to the next job or taking a relaxed drive, when a view draws me in. I find myself stopping, taking a photograph, and returning to it later when I have time to truly reflect. My paintings are my way of revisiting those moments, honouring their beauty, and sharing them with others. Each piece is a pause, an appreciation, and an offering.