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A special Australian Landscape.
Occasionally an early morning bike ride to Port Adelaide reveals another stunning dawn. There is a theme around the pink reflections of the sunrise before merging into the morning sky. The light is fleeting, although the morning is breaking, the lights on the jetty still shine. The sun has yet to catch the beach scrub and the lights on the jetty are still bright.
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We talk about the timeless grandeur of the Arkaroola Landscape. The reflections in the waterholes make places like Arkaroola like nowhere else. Arkaroola is synonymous with ancient geological ages. It is the most rugged expression of the Australian Landscape. At once powerful and untamed with a natural beauty. According to legend, Arkaroo, the great Dreamtime serpent lived in the Gammon Ranges. He felt very thirsty, so he slithered down to the plains and drank Lake Frome dry. When he had finished, he went back to the Gammons, his body gouging out Arkaroola Creek. The waterholes represent the places that he stopped and rested.
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We talk about a timeless grandeur of the Arkaroola landscape.For over 600 million years, these Pinnacles have served as sentries to the Mawson Valley. Contemplate the violence of their formation in those primeval years, of the natural evolution. Today the challenge is the climate cycle.The copper tones of the dead leaves display the stress. And yet, the cleverness of nature, that it adapts, it survives but doesn’t quite conquer.
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We talk about a timeless grandeur of the Arkaroola landscape. On the ground, in the creek beds, it is not about the geological forces but the adaption of the trees to to the climate. Towards the end of 2019 Arkaroola had experienced the longest, driest conditions in living memory. Red Gums that were hundreds of years old were dying. The desiccated landscape was facing its biggest challenge. Having seen it at it best, we were witnessing a potential disaster. Every major drought asks the question, will the landscape recover?
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45.0 cm W x 45.0 cm H Oil on Stretched Canvas (ready to hang) June 2024 Roscoe Shelton
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45.0 cm W x 45.0 cm H Oil on Stretched Canvas (ready to hang) June 2024 Roscoe Shelton
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We talk about a timeless grandeur of the Arkaroola landscape. This scene taken from the lookout near the Pinnacles, a peaceful, contemplative hilltop vantage point looking over a typical Arkaroola landscape. The track winding back to the village gives the sense of journey with some interest in the distant rocky outcrops that remain from the weathered, folded landscape. I liked the sense of the hills and the colour of the dried earth coming through the sparse vegetation.
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Capture the impression of the endless break of a passive surf break at the famous Cactus Beach. At sunset, watching wave after wave roll in. The light slowly fading, but leaving an orange hue on the horizon and an eerie purple on the break. With the wind dropping in the evening, the scene depicts a peaceful reminder of the power of the sea.
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The mighty Cooper Creek weaves its way through the great Australian Outback. The “river” has such a certainty about it, that it is hard to see this as Burke & Wills country. How could these explorers perish with abundant food sources. The painting is about meaning. We look to the reflections in the water and wonder what went before.
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We talk about a timeless grandeur of the Arkaroola landscape. This scene below the dominant Bararranna Hill holds a particular fascination. It is one of the major iconic scenes along Arkaroola Creek tracing the path of the great dreaming serpent, Arkaroo. This scene projects a primeval emotion typical of the harsh and robust environment. The rock faces are sharp and steep with few trees successfully finding a crevace to set their roots. Interest in the scene is enhanced with the foreground water, and we have the curiosity of what lies around the next bend as we make our way up to the Bararranna Waterhole. There are still many questions that the landscape asks of us.
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50.8 cm W x 40.6 cm H Oil on Stretched Canvas (ready to hang) June 2024 Roscoe Shelton
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50.8 cm W x 40.6 cm H Oil on Stretched Canvas (ready to hang) June 2024 Roscoe Shelton
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50.8 cm W x 50.8 cm H Oil on Stretched Canvas (ready to hang) July 2024 Roscoe Shelton
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Inspiration comes from the Streeton Exhibition in Sydney early 2021.
A number of Australian impressionists took to the northern beaches Sydney and produced some notable paintings.
Painted from a 2019 trip to the secluded and laid-back coastal town of Norah Head on NSW's Central Coast. You can just imagine the unspoilt coastline Australia's early settlers would have come across. -
East Point Reserve, Darwin
A great Australian Landscape
The tropical sunsets over Darwin are spectacular. I want to capture for the balance between the sunset and the fading light on the water, and then there is the tropical cloud with the sun departing but leaving an illuminated skyline and upper cloud. There is something special about a “graceful” Darwin sunset at East Point Reserve.
I am always looking forward to a week or two in Darwin each year to catch up with friends and a bar-be-que with on the foreshore.
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While the land is harsh and dry, it holds a rugged, colourful beauty. Reds, blues and purples have to be experienced to be believed. It is truly a wonderful country that Namatjira and Hermannsburg have encouraged us to share.
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The mighty Cooper Creek after all its journey spreads out into the desert plain, attracting abundant birdlife, but it is endless flat water that holds the reflection of the desert sunset. Still, quiet, harmonious, not a soul in sight.
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40.6cm H x 50.8 cm W Oil on Stretched Canvas (ready to hang) March 2024 Roscoe
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40.6 cm H x 50.8 cm W Oil on Stretched Canvas (ready to hang) March 2024 Roscoe