Tracks Through the Capertee Valley

Dispersion, 2026, oil on board, 50.8 x 40.6cm

As I notice the chill in the early morning air, I am drawn to the studio to go deeper. I continue to explore thresholds in my current series - landscapes that evoke spatial indeterminacy, images that both invite and distance the viewer.  

I seek compositions that draw the viewer in, alluding to memories and sensations. 

I seek marks that evoke memories, stories and the poetry of allusion. 

I seek colours and forms that both transport and ground the viewer in connectedness with nature and the transience of time and space. 

This push and pull — attraction and resistance — is akin to what many of us experience in the landscape.

When walking through paddocks and bushland in the Capertee Valley, I experience a longing to understand the land. I also sense my unfamiliarity with its unique, finely balanced systems. 

Animal tracks, sometimes discrete, more often brazen, criss-cross the land with their own inherent logic. I follow their lead, picking my way through the prickly scrub, over grasslands and even through fences. While walking these paths, it’s as though I am invited inwards and towards somewhere, a place unknown. At the same time, I feel held back, as if never to arrive. 

As I continue to walk through the months to come, observing the changing seasons and states, my perception will deepen. 

And as I paint, I trust that this landscape, like others, will reveal itself over time. 

It is this experience of sustained attention and immersion that I hope to share with others who come to paint and spend time in this extraordinary place.