This
painting was dreamt up one evening when I looked out of my window and
noticed a
bush fire starting up across the Numinbah Valley, near the mountains of
Springbrook.
The
beautiful and deadly colours of the tongues of fire as they devoured
the
distant trees were mingling with the bushland over the crest of a small
hill.
The smoke was rising thick and pluming, challenging the colours of the
evening
sky.
It
all felt to me a timeless scene that would be a great theme to paint.
Controversially,
it also reminds us that fires have been a part of the Australian bush
for
millions of years. And that they create tremendous havoc and great
tragedy if
we do not take care of the bush, which is our largely forgotten
heritage.
Oil on canvas.
Copyright (c) Helen Duley 2004