A Week in the Back Paddock

Tuesday 17 September 2013, 3pm

These works were produced at an artist’s camp at Bimblebox Nature Refuge, near Alpha in Central Queensland over a week from 8 to 13 September. I was in the company of a group of enthusiastic artists, journo’s, geeks and the gracious and hospitable custodians, Paola Cassoni and Ian Hoch. Not to mention their energetic young fix-it man, Karl.

Paola was busy preparing her imminent case to defend the Refuge against the onslaughts of Gina Rinehart’s nearby Alpha Coal Mine on the groundwater and will have to eventually defend it against being ripped up and sent to China as part of Clive Palmer’s China First project, which I believe has been recently renamed so as not to sound too offensive to the locals.

Ian was busily caring for a large mob of cattle in the hot weather and buying in stock in an effort to fund the court case. Karl was helping out, with the cattle and the camp, having been given a week off year eight at school.

The first drawing I attempted (after arriving on Saturday afternoon after a two day drive of over 1100Km) was of the yellowjacket woodland near the camp, at dawn. All panels were 600x900mm.

“It's the Environment, Stupid”

Later the same day, in a long tradition of Australian art, I sketched the Artist’s Camp. Paola is slaving over her court papers in the kitchen tent. Ian was moving around in the background, so he was drawn twice.

“The Artist's Camp at Bimblebox”

That night I did a five-minute nocturne and as you may note, I couldn’t see much.

“The Point”

Lee gave me the title. There was no detail, I was coming straight to ‘the point’. Three panels on the first day and I had only bought 10 with me. I needed to start pacing myself.

The next day I did a trip to the dongas (main camp) with Beth and I had a go at the front yard. It’s a working (and privately owned) property.

  

“The Mechanics of Survival”

The next day I located the Tropic of Capricorn, with the help of Greg’s GPS. I knew it was on the property, somewhere about 500m north of the dongas. Zena, Beth and I saluted it after embedding a marker I’d carved from a plank of old timber in the fork of an ironbark (broad leaved).

Afterwards I carved another marker in a tree at the camp to mark where it will be in 2208. It’s currently drifting north at about 14m a year. It was a sign of faith that the tree will still be there in 195 years, rather than just a big hole in the ground.

At dusk that evening I drove to the northern boundary and did a drawing to illustrate the difference between Bimblebox and the surrounding property.

“Dollars and Sense”

That’s Bimblebox on the left. The next day, Wednesday, was a stinker, 40 degrees in the shade. I did a drawing of the powerlines that run through the NW corner, then sat around gasping in the kitchen tent for most of the rest of the day.

  

“Scarification”

I managed to convince Paola that it was important to do her portrait (anthropocentrism) and drew her as she worked through her papers in the kitchen tent. I later asked the rest of the crew if they could help me with the title, as I had a few options. I’d previously said I felt I’d made her face a bit too long. Karl came up with the winner.

“Paola's a Bit Long in the Face”

That night, whilst answering a call of nature, I spied the Clouds of Magellan dominating the sky in the South and decided I just had to do another nocturne. My Mitsubishi Mirage is in the foreground.

“Magellanic Mirage”

The meteor was just one of many I saw. The line of lights glancing the trees was a passing plane. I used a kitchen Knife for the sgraffito and soft hemp charcoal for the darker tones of the trees.

Next day I drew the Camp Workshop, a small table nestled amongst the trees.

“The Camp Workshop”

There’s a small packet of Zen in the Ovaltine tin. I decided to do it without any erasures, which adds to the Chaos. I set my table up on four 20 litre drums and stood on a small step ladder to get a high vantage point.

 An early title for this one was ‘Kaos is my friend’.

On the last day I managed to corner Ian for his portrait as he chatted with Jill, Liz and Beth in the muted light after dinner. He was a bit knackered.

“Ian - Diversity, Fertility, Productivity”

Next day everybody else left and I helped Ian strike camp, staying on to absorb a bit more of the ambience and prepare for the long journey back to reality.

I’ve got to paint these in the next six weeks and hope to document the glazing process on the blog.

STOP PRESS: Just heard we’ve no longer got federal ministers for Water, Climate Change or Science. Instead we’ve got Anzac Day, Border Protection and Sport. OMG!