The paper boat and the copper pot

The copper pot came from the Belgan Congo. The flowers from the neighbours garden. Painted while I ought to have been getting the Landcruiser ready to Mijijimaya. Mid 1991.
Paper boat Sandy Cape. Water Colour on paper Tasmania 1990
For five years I worked on trawlers usually along the West Coast of Tasmania. I was the stand-by for the regular crew who wanted a week off but did not want to lose their job. I filled in for a trip or two and then want back to the studio.
Sometimes the Southern Ocean would be glassy calm and the light soft and almost milky. The fragile paper boat in his setting may just survive for long enough to reach the distant shore.
Sandy Cape was the site of one of the fishing equivalent of a gold rush when the ancient Orange Roughy were caught in great numbers. These fish were between 80 to 100 years old and are now listed as endangered. They live at great depth and don't breed until over 40 years old.
At the time I felt like I was the paper boat.

I remember working on this series through the depth of Hobarts' winter of 1990. The studio overlooked Liverpool street and the frozen wind rushed straight from the looming top of Mt Wellington to rattle my old windows. The days were short and dim and evenings spent in close interior warmth. So I immersed myself in images of clear blue days and glassy calm seas.
I made the paper boat and put it on a section of broken mirror to give me the reflection.