Dappled Light at Houghton

                                                    Acrylic on board 15cm x 15cm

I've been making excuses lately about not having time to paint because of being on a writing bender. While it's true that I've been writing at every available opportunity, it doesn't mean I can't make more effort to fit things in around it. In fact, I had been managing creative balance quite well for a year or two but I got derailed when I hurt my back last October and haven't managed to get back on track since. Michael Perchard's comment on my previous post somehow permeated my writing fog and I now hope to revive my weekly painting habit. Thanks Michael!

Say Hannan's

Oil on board circa 1990

Once again I am reduced to scraping the barrel of my lean body of work in order to post some art work. There has been no lack of creative energy pumping through my veins lately but it has all been channelled into my writing. I took this snap while visiting my mum and dad today as it hangs in their dining room. The colours have come up quite gaudy in the photo I'm afraid.  I had painted the hotel from a photo I took while visiting the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the late 1980s. "Hannan's" was the name of a local beer and "Say Hannan's" was their slogan. There are a lot of places and things in the area that incorporate the name Hannan, due to the first person to strike gold in the area being an Irish prospector by the name of Paddy Hannan in 1893. The town sprung up around the consequent gold rush. In real life the hotel was on a bituminised street in the town but I made up the background by drawing inspiration from some other photos I'd taken of flowering everlastings in the local bushland.