The painting on my easel in the studio is almost finished. It is at the point where I stop and consider the title and story of the artwork. What is it about, and what do I want to convey?

The painting in question is still untitled. I do know the story. The final details to be painted will hopefully bring this out.

Story

The painting depicts trees on fire. It’s an abstract work. Sparked by two local events, I want it to convey my concern for flora and fauna. The first event was a local fire, started accidentally, which almost reached our property. It was severe enough for us to evacuate.

The second event, or events to be truthful, relates to what are known as planned burns. The intention of planned burns is ostensibly to remove plants from forests to reduce fire threat to nearby homes, should a fire break out. Mostly, planned burns happen in forests which are supposed to be wildlife reserves. The plants being burned provide food and shelter to wildlife. These forests are also the last reserve of native flora, some species being on the rare plant list. The burns are hot, and kill many plants to the point they cannot reproduce. In Australia, at the moment, there is little money devoted to protection of these forests.

I think painting a sign reading ‘wildlife reserve’ into the painting will convey my intention. However, I’m still thinking this over.

Title

Often, when I’m naming an artwork, I want to keep things simple and to the point. One or two words. With this painting, I feel like it needs to be a sentence. So, I’m trying to bring my wide ranging thoughts down to a central idea which can be conveyed clearly. I have faith a good title will come to me, but it hasn’t happened yet.

See the Completed Work

The environment features in a few of my new paintings for the Golden Plains Arts Trail this year. This beings in 8 days time! My studio will be open from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th April. Find out all of the information you need in the brochure, which you can download here.