This work, Ninox Strenua, is the first of a series that collates my interest in Nature and the age of the Anthropocene ,where climate change is hastening the demise of many species. I am particularly interested in the birds of New South Wales. Not only are the smallest birds are being decimated by cats and loss of habitat, but larger species such as the Powerful Owl- Ninox Strenua- which can be seen if you are lucky and quietly observant, in pockets of canopy in the Sydney area, are now listed as 'vulnerable'.
I hope to engage the viewer by depicting this chosen endangered bird in a geometric style, perhaps evoking the splendour of seeing rarer birds even in an urban environment. The edges of the painting are hand-embedded with a small curve or fold, to contrast and play optically with the flat, muted angular shapes within the pictorial space.
As a participant in the fighting of the 2019/2020 bushfires, I saw first-hand the immediate effect on a wilderness area south-west of Sydney. The blackened forest revealed no greenery, but the silence was worse as all the many small birds that usually live in this area could not survive the ferocity or escape, especially when the fire swept through at night.
The ongoing series will focus on a selection of endangered birds as listed officially on the NSW Government Environment list.
