For nearly two decades, I lived with my family in a little slice of Victorian heaven called Kangaroo Ground - on the outskirts of Melbourne. Close enough to nick into town for a cafe latte and a bit of cultcha when the mood arose, but far enough away for the call of powerful owls to tug at the heartstrings, and the gush of the over-full Yarra River in winter to cause consternation. I never quite got used to the parched summers - it wasn't the snakes so much as the everpresent possibility of fire.
Over the years I have painted Kangaroo Ground and our special part of this suburb, the Bend of Isles, as a recurring motif. The play of light, the intense seasonal variation, the magic of emerging from dense bushland to rolling pastures and big fat skies - all of these have been recorded in various indoor and outdoor makeshift workspaces.
"Sunny morning, Kangaroo Ground" is an oversized watercolour painting framed under glass. Oversized means that it's on jumbo sized paper with a gsm of 600 rather than the conventional heavy 350gsm paper.
It's an homage to the vista across Christmas Hills toward Yarra Glen, from Henley Road and is a view that I saw on almost daily drives into and out of this beautiful spot. I hope you enjoy it too!