"The Return of the Red Dust Girl"

Oil on Canvas 120 x 90 cm

I exhibited a series called “The Red Dust Girl” in Adelaide several years ago. There were four large paintings titled Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.
In those works I was trying to convey a sense of living in a regional area or a situation far from the influence of a metropolitan city. I wanted it to reflect a celebration of outback Australia, of the people living there each day of their lives and of the purity or innocence that can be found in such a seemingly baron and harsh landscape.

Painting can sometimes be a very individual pursuit or in my case an infatuation, so I also wanted that series to express the joy (of all things) of being alone or separated, and of the contentment in that individualism. How “change” presented as a metaphor (the four seasons) can be a good thing and doesn’t necessarily need to change us as individuals.

I knew that having a young girl or woman in these paintings would be the perfect vehicle to present this idea. I’m not sure how the “floating” concept came about.. it certainly fitted the context of “separation” and I decided that nothing in each of the four paintings would touch the ground.. that the earth beneath her feet would remain unchanged through the seasons.

This particular painting is a return to that isolation and a celebration of it in fact. A celebration of individuality and the survival of spirit in some ways. It is one thing to be influenced but one must be careful not to imitate.. to remain true to your own convictions and interpret your surroundings and indeed own experiences in your own way. This is my way.

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A PAINTING FROM THE ORIGINAL SERIES BELOW

"Red Dust Girl" (winter)

 

"The Red Dust Girl"

For Red Dust Girl I was trying to convey a sense of living in a regional area or a situation far from the influence of a metropolitan city. I wanted it to reflect a celebration of outback Australia, of the people living there each day of their lives and of the purity or innocence that can be found in such a seemingly baron and harsh landscape.

You know, painting can sometimes be a very individual pursuit or in my case an infatuation, so I also wanted that series to express the joy of being alone or separated.. and of the contentment in that individualism. How change or at least as metaphor can be a good thing, and doesn’t necessarily need to change us as individuals.

I knew that having a young girl or woman in the picture would be the perfect vehicle to present this idea. I’m not sure how the “floating” concept came about but it certainly fitted the context of “separation” and when I mapped it out initially it just looked right. I decided that nothing in each of the four paintings would touch the ground and that the earth beneath her feet would remain unchanged through the seasons.