Eastern grey kangaroo

Eastern grey kangaroo

Are you team kangaroo or team koala? If you think of Australian wildlife it’s hard to know which comes top of the list. I reckon probably kangaroos by a bounce…

The excitement of seeing our first wild kangaroos relaxing after a hard day bouncing, cannot be described. But that excitement was matched when we got to feed them right at the end of our stay in a lovely wildlife park near Adelaide. I would never approach one in the wild but here they were very used to human interaction. In the wild unwary tourists occasionally get stomped on as they approach too close.

I wanted to nod at the amazing indigenous art of Australia too without appropriating what is sacred to Aboriginal people. So I chose to use the dots in the background and the colours were inspired by the bush landscape.

This painting is produced using an intriguing technique which results in the woodblock print feel of the image. First it is painted in gouache, then coated with Indian ink. After that it is washed off under water to reveal the kangaroo. The water soluble gouache washes away and the ink stays put. I felt it gives a feeling of the age of the animals and landscape and I hope you agree.

This painting of the kangaroo was then mounted on a birch wood panel and waxed. It is framed in a black floating frame and is strung ready to hang. The painting is 50x50cm.