Stags on Woodbridge Hill

72cmx61cm acrylic on cotton canvas 2017 Private collection

In the D’Entrecasteaux Channel region of Tasmania trees still stand that were reduced to skeletons by the devastating 1967 bushfires. Bleached white by the sun, on hillsides their heads and shoulders are visible above 50 years of new growth. I wonder if their resemblance to antlers suggested their local name, “stags”.

I made this painting on a property at Woodbridge, and the “stags” are only barely visible in the middle of the work, viewed through a gap in foliage. A ever present silent reminder of the 1967 fires, while new growth flourishes.