CONFLUENCE

A special early morning ritual was sitting on the front
porch, rugged up with hot tea watching the valley come
to life as the sun came up over the mountains, kangaroos
grazing nearby and sometimes the dingos coming down
the slope on the other side of the creek. With pastels
and small strips of paper I quickly tried to capture the
changing light as the mist rolled away.
My favourite discovery was an area where Hospital and
Boboyan (Dry) creeks meet. Here two geological areas
meet with rocks that have been washed and tumbled
clearly showing the Granodiorite of one area and the
Sandstone, Slate, Chert, Limestone and Quartzite of
the adjacent area. Playfully I picked up and arranged
a sample of shapes, colours and sizes, thinking about
British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy and his ephemeral
works in the environment.
In the last days at Namadgi National Park ideas were
coming together and I raced against the clock to
complete wax resist and Indian ink drawings looking
from the back of the cottage towards Yankee Hat, do
larger rubbings of rock surfaces to draw plant fossils on
and notate the shapes of the dried out plants on the
ground. I worked quickly on collages and gathered the
information I needed to take back to the studio to start a
new body of work.
The residency combining time at Geoscience Australia
and Namadgi National Park provided the perfect match.
From the obvious links in rocks and geology, I discovered
more specific interests in the immense expanse of time
before us, the changing seasons, night and day – shifting
and changing land. Being present, aware and curious
gave me fresh inspiration, joy in discovery and the
rewards of creating new work.
As I sadly packed to leave and locked the gate to
Gudgenby Cottage I felt brimming full of possibility.
Through the heightened experience I took with me a
renewed sense of connection to our natural world and
the people who have lived on the land and travelled here
before us.
I felt again the freedom I had as a child in the Southern
Upland hills of Scotland – being able to roam, absorb
everything around me and reconnect with art, science
and nature. But this is a different land that I inhabit now
and I have so much more to learn. Like the Bogong moth,
I hope to keep returning.
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