Into the wild (31)

Still on the hiking theme, this painting is from a photo I took while hiking the Kepler Track at the bottom of the south island of New Zealand. It was taken on the first day of the hike, heading up through the tree line to the ridge. I actually took the photo by mistake (so have no idea who the walker in the picture is) but it turned out to be one of my best photos!

There had been storms and torrential rain the previous night so the light was soft and had a pink hue to it, the ground was wet, and the plants were lush and glistening. When I look at this painting, I feel the calmness I experience on long distance hikes. The steady plod of putting one foot in front of the other for hours and days on end puts me in an almost meditative state.

This painting will be exhibited at Fidels, Essex Street, Fremantle from 26th January to 25th February 2010.