In March and April of 2000 my wife, Ann and I went to visit and paint with West Australian artist, Gillian Kaye Peebles and her husband, Ron. Wonderful hosts and kindred spirits, we spent seven weeks traveling and painting,while our spouses played supporting roles, bless their hearts.

Though our home base was at their home in Rockingham, a suburb of Fremantle, we covered the south west of what is the largest state in the world. We also headed north of Perth intending to go two thousand kilometres to the Kimberley, a vast wilderness of rivers and gorges in a tropical setting. Alas, Cyclone Steve, particularly devastating as cyclones go, wiped out all the roads leading North. We got as far as Kalbarri, where the Batavian Coast dazzles your eyes with its reds and oranges and inland the Murchison River creates wonderfully twisted and colourful gorges.

In between these two journeys we spent a few delightful days on Rottnest Island, just 19 kilometres off the coast from Perth. The seven weeks literally flew by. The paintings you see in the gallery that have "on site study" behind the name were done on site. I called them "studies" because they were done in a larger format and take more time than a sketch.

Watch for more paintings of this fascinating country. My heart tells me that we haven't seen the last of "OZ" and its wonderful people.