Vignette – their soft dyes have steeped my soul in colour, 2020

Watercolour & graphite, 11.5 cm x 19 cm, framed in raw timber box frame with soft gold face 38.5 cm x 33.5 cm. 

Cicadas are known for their buzzing and clicking noises, which can be amplified by multitudes of insects into an overpowering hum.  I collected these specimens from near the village of Mongarlowe when I was in that area as a volunteer fire fighter a couple of years ago.  The living colours of the leaves and cicadas are just so dramatic, and on death they become even more beautiful as they take on a subtlety and tell a new story.

The title for this work comes from the poem "Colour" by well known Australian poet, Dorothea Mackellar.