Four Seasons - Gippsland, 2007  Acrylic on linen 137 x198 cm

Artist Statement -

Mountain ranges fluctuate from cool green to bushfire-charred;

interwoven networks of roads and twisting waterways merge into a grid of rich farmland soils, sometimes parched; skies are clear, smoke-filled or moist with rain.

Not an aerial map of Gippsland, but fragments pieced together with distortions in partspective, scale and time to depict the elements of earth, water, fire and air within Gippsland’s diverse terrain. A sense of the remote can still be found.

Purchased for West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority Collection

“Creative Environment is a project that investigated place, environment and relationship. The project used a mentoring and collaborative development process involving senior regional artists, Susan Purdy, Col Suggett and William Young, each working with three developing artists from the region to create artworks in different media for an exhibition. The mentored artists were Rod Bechas, Greg Follett, Janine Good, Shelley McDermott, Rick Rutjens, Gillian Swanson, Tracie Toohey, Dave Wakefield and Michelle Watson.”

- excerpt from Article by Donald Coventry, Groundwork Issue 6, Summer 2007, pgs 24-25.

End of an Era 1, 2003, Oil on canvas, 75 x 150 cm

End of an Era 2, 2003,

Charcoal on Arches paper, 61 x 82 cm