Oil on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.

Signed on the front.

This sweet little gem is a painting I have been meaning to do for quite some time, it portrays a group of farmers having a roadside yarn about the recent spring rains ...In that region there is a saying " there's money in mud" and I am sure they are quite happy that there are one or two good harvests ahead finally.
Just near this spot, at the bend in the road where the old bridge was, the Wimmera River is in flood and this was the rainfalls that broke a ten year drought. This was a real event, I worked off several photos I took when I was out photographing the river and floods and wattle and springtime, changing the composition around a little bit and giving them a generic anonymity.
Gumboots and all, these images of all the photos I took that day, said it all, about the hope and optimism of the season and country life.
In the background are river redgums along the river banks, and the wattles and flowering quince are in bloom as are the roadside gazania flowers and I couldn't resist adding a robin before it flys back to Tasmania for the summer.
All very sweet and pretty I know, but some kind of celebration of a timeless cycle of rural life...