Pastel on Supertooth paper      SOLD

35 X 31 cm

 Many times, I have wandered off to far-flung places.... other continents and other countries, in an endless quest to experience the wild and all of its precious creatures........ our fellow animals.

Whether it is in the Annapurnas, Western China, Chitwan, the Great Barrier Reef or the Serengeti there is always a common thread of life that connects the sum of the apparent parts through the fact of the whole. Just like a carefully woven tribal rug there are 'flaws' and there too are flashes of brilliance.... parts where the technique may be more or less confident.... and yet there is always an overall becoming that holds the concept as one. Nature is not unlike that rug and indeed all parts depend upon one another to the extent where we can truthfully say there is only 'one'.... or as Buddhism would have it.... There is no 'other'.

We and wildlife are all 'people' .... some of us just wear different clothes. Spend enough time in unspoiled nature ...let your ego drop away and let the human clatter and paradigms fade. Sit and breathe.... soon enough you will begin to hear the sibilant voices of the other 'people'.... and you will realise they never really left .... you just pushed them aside. For me I was fortunate to be shown the real-world decades ago when I wandered alone through the countryside and every experience of nature for me was a new revelation, a new understanding.

Happily, I chose a path from my childhood dreaming and made myself a career where I could spend all my days as an adult enjoying and being open to nature and learning how to be humble in her presence...... and maybe give something back in thanks. I live in a national park where nature approaches close on a daily basis and it is impractical to ignore it. Just walking out of the house to my studio/gallery is always a nature experience and I never know what critters will be around in the garden or on the lake at the bottom of the garden. It changes from moment to moment and keeps me constantly enraptured.

This day I chose to apply my soft pastels to the challenging task of replicating the bright spirit of a male superb fairy wren which calls our garden home (along with his family of friends). The iridescent blue feathers on his head are the greatest challenge for a pastelist.... but it's one I enjoy from time to time.