What Lies Beyond the Gate

A traditional tonalist study of a bush track leading to a broken down gate - what lies beyond this gate? The image came to me as I walked much further along a bush track than I intended, just because I kept being curious about what lay beyond the next corner, over the next ridge. The traditional two tone style is also intended to invoke early exploration of the Australian landscape by Europeans trying to make sense of what was, to them, a strange and foreign land.

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As an artist I am interested in capturing the essence of the Australian landscape. I grew up in South Australia, along the Limestone Coast and on Eyre Peninsula, each with its own windswept, rugged coastlines and flat hinterlands. I find open, expansive and harsh environments surprisingly serene. Now living in Victoria I am experiencing a very different side of the Australian landscape, with lush forests, souring mountains and energetic rivers.
I am conscious of seeing these landscapes through eyes that are European-Australian, both through my own heritage, and though cultural and artistic influence. One area of my interest is therefore taking overtly traditional European styles, such as monochrome or limited palette tonal studies, and applying these styles to Australian subjects. But I am also interested in how to capture the essence of the landscape through more expressionistic, abstract styles.
I primarily use watercolour as it brings an unpredictability to the works, with subtle colour shifts and ambiguous forms, that I feel echo the landscape and our perception of it.