Bylong Valley Paintings

For about 20 years, I regularly travelled along the Bylong Valley Way between the Hunter Valley and Orange NSW to visit an uncle and aunt. The landforms visible from the road on those long journeys seeped into my subconscious, with the sedimentary pagodas and basalt columns causing an impression of driving through an ancient cathedral.

The paintings largely depict the view from the vehicle with the road itself being a prominent compositional device, leading the viewer into and around the paintings.

As the series progressed the landforms distilled into the essence of the idea resulting in a dynamic interplay between abstraction and representation, reflecting a deep engagement with both form and concept.