'The Way' Acrylic on canvas60x40 CM 2001

The tussock cling to the baked black soil plain that gives way to the tidal mudflats.

Jibbigung Hill. East Kimberley Dry Season 1997 Watercolor 20x90 CM

Pentacost River. Easter 2004

The last hurragh of the Wet creeps across the skies. The river is flowing fast and clear.
The cliffs of the Cockburn Ranges loom over the valley. Phllip Parker King described these

At the entrance of the basin the high rocky character of the west shore
is superseded by low mangrove banks, with here and there a detached hill
rising from a plain of low marshy land, that, at the time of our visit,
was covered with a salt incrustation, occasioned by the evaporation of
the sea, which, apparently, had lately flooded the low lands to a great
extent: some of these plains are seven and eight miles in diameter. The
hills rise abruptly; those we examined are of sandstone formation. The
basin is very shoal, but there is a narrow channel in the centre, with
from five to nine fathoms water. The shore, opposite the Bastion Hills,
is low, and the gulf trends gradually round to the South-West for five
miles, when it is contracted into a narrow communication, called The Gut,
leading to an interior shoal basin, strewed with low marshy islands,
which the tide covers. This basin terminates to the southward in a narrow
stream, winding under the base of Mount Cockburn; and there also appeared
to be several others falling into the basin more to the westward. The
water was salt at the extremity of our exploration. The Gut leading to it
is two miles long, and not so much as a quarter of a mile wide: in some
parts we had nineteen fathoms, but in others it was deeper; it runs
through a chasm in the hills, which rise abruptly, and occasionally
recede and form bights, in which, in the wet season, the rains form some
very considerable mountain torrents. No fresh water was seen in any part
of the gulf; but as it was near the end of the dry season when we were
there, it might probably be found in a more advanced season in every part
of the western side, where the land is high and the gullies numerous:
there is, however, no durable freshwater stream without the Gut. An
alligator was observed swimming about, but very few fish were noticed

We camped close to the water and in the mornings I would move to a seperate painting camp.

Again the fish swimming in the depths crept into the image

Gus Hole Trilogy. Acrlic on canvas 80x120 cm 2003

Big rain Marralam 1997. Watercolor

Gus' Hole near Marralam. East Kimberly.Acrylic on Canvas 200 x60 cm

The calls of the black cockatoos travel far in the cool still early morning air. I painted this over about five days on-site as well as many evenings back in Darwin where I worked the rhythm of the marks together.
The ancient boab clings among the loose rocks to the spinnifex covered flanks of the hill
Cutting through the reflection of the overhanging cliffs the kids head back to camp for breakfast
An echo of 'The Departure' these fish revealed glowing with an inner light against the black depths.

12.3.97 Marralam, The grass yellows and seeds.

I found the frog dessicated in the bedroom. I had been away for Christmas.

Marralam. East Kimberley Watercolours

The road South to the Hills. Watercolour. 40x100 cm. Marralam 1998
On the edge of Keep River. The last light reflected in the last of the ebb tide across the mud.
Playing among the anthills




The strangest thing I remember about this one it the fact I was listening to BBC on the shortwave and heard the sudden interruption to usual programming to announce that Dinah has 'been hurt in an accident and companion killed'.Watercolor
This really happened; A huge willy-willy a bushfire and heaps of cockatoos. Watercolor 1995



Watercolor 10 Cm square 1996
The waterhole near the house
The crows follow the firefront as it flushes out food.
Dawn in the the heart of the cool dry season. The endless delicate blue sky etched the features of the horizon.
(detail) The crows lived always just out of arms reach. Arguing among themselves and watching always for an opportunity to steal something
(detail-of below)When the waters flow settles after the first rain Barramundi move in from the sea.
(main painting; 60x40 cm) This painting follows the journey from the sealed highway to the outstation.
(detail)On the flat near the house a straw man was made and ceremonially incinerated.
(detail)The big Boab at Sandy Creek Crossing.
(detail)The generator shed. I spent many hours communing with this beast in the hot little shed while the fridges thawed and everyone waited patiently.
(detail)This hill next to the house was called Jibbiggung, this is the Mirriwoong name for quail. This is the creation site for this bird.
(detail)The distant hills to the South shrouded in rain. Once the country was wet the only way to traverse it is on foot. The hard earth opens up.
The Marralam studio. This painting was done here
12x15 CM watercolour on paper. The first clouds bringing the rains catch the early light. Black Cockatoos cry out as they tumble south. Marralam East Kimberley 1996