Part impression, part design, part reproduction this piece is one of many impulses to share what I adore about the forest floor, going as deeply as possible, peering close, noticing nuances of colour, attempting to make sense of millions of droplets of light and flashes of colour as birds, bugs and marsupials dash about their habitat.
The piece has little sense of edges or beginnings and endings. Under piles of undergrowth and sheltered from weather extremes by the canopy, life on the forest floor seems to exist in a perpetual state where the forest must feel like it goes on forever in both space and time, beautifully oblivious to the world of humans.
Potteroos live here in the cool shelter of the bush, camouflaged in the thickets where all is warm tones of earth and wood and fur and a misty morning softens the greens to teal.
Multi layers of oil and wash move from rich crimson to burnt ochre, peach, olive green, and warm greens through to cool. Applied with brush and rag for organic textures.
The original inspiration site is Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, ACT, where I did indeed come across three endangered potteroos with their noses in the leaf litter!
Inventory Number: 0140OC