Oil on Board, 68.5 x 57cm.
“I recently sat down to paint this swelling creek at Bowral, or should I say half way between Bowral and Mossvale. On a sunny, warm summers day, I gazed across the field of wild grasses and this startled wild duck in flight. It reminded me of the beautiful words in Lola Ridge’s poem, so I thought I’d share this with you P.S. My first ever painting of a wild Australian duck!”
Below is an excerpt of this poem…
“…How at dawn the necks of wild ducks
Arch to the sun
And new-mown air
Trickles sweet in their gullets.
As water, cleared of the reflection of a bird
That has lately flown across it,
Yet trembles with the beating of its wings,
So my soul . . . emptied of the known you . . . utterly . . .
Is yet vibrant with the cadence of the song…”