Gallery 2

Threatened and Extinct Species

As a supporter of the Threatened Species Network of the Northern Territory it was very sad to see it un-funded when we are quietly losing our mammal species at an alarming rate. Their decline is linked (in my opinion) to the increasing frequency of fires, most of them deliberately lit.

I am also interested in the extinction of the Australian megafauna.

Trilobites

Winner of the Flinders University Palaeontology Society Art Prize 2021. Inspired by the Oxford University Natural History Museum ‘Trilobite slab’ which I saw in 2019, then the Emu Bay Shale Redlichia rex and finally, the specimen of Redlichia takooensis to which the Museum & Art Gallery NT kindly gave me access to sketch.

Mixed media with iridescent paint on canvas

76 x 61cm

We used to be top predators, now we are just old fossils

A humerous entry in the Flinders University Palaeontology Society art competition 2021

Mixed media and iridescent paint on board

c.60 x 40 cm

Devonian Reef (before the extinction event)

(private collection)

Acrylic and collage on canvas

70 x 38 cm

Kakadu dodo

A page from a book of bird studies in pencil and watercolour. This is drawn from a dead bird lent by the Territory Wildlife Park and reconstructed with the aid of photos I took at a campsite in Kakadu. I was struck by the similarity with the extinct giant pigeon...

watercolour over pencil

Megafauna

This was my entry into the Tasmanian Bay of Fires Art Award - 'Our Island Heritage' I have a life-long interest in fossils and prehistoric creatures. In this painting I have reflected on Tasmania’s palaeontology and in particular, its Megafauna, that became extinct soon after the arrival of humans. Central to this piece is my artistic reconstruction of the mysterious possum-like creature, Wynyardia.

Fishistory

A surviving shark circles about a moribund reef. The history of fishes is traced in the layers of sediment below.

Acrylic and Collage on canvas

122 x 76cm

Ghosts

Giant flightless birds once roamed the Territory...

Acrylic and collage on paper

38 x 56cm

Threatened Species Alphabet

Peoples Choice Award 2005 - used as the TSN poster. A few copies are available for purchase.

Collaged watercolours

Rock Wallaby

Watercolour (private collection in UK)

65 x 85cm

Please do not disturb

Tidying up and burning off destroy this small marsupial's refuge...

Pastel (private collection)

55 x 68cm

Gove Crow

A butterfly so rare I have never seen it

Watercolour

50 x 65cm

Palm Valley

Havens of ancient plant life, dependant on ground water. You can hear drilling.

Watercolour

65x 85cm

Open Verdict

How did this Tawny Frogmouth meet his end - a cane toad perhaps (Cane toads reached the Northern Territory only recently, I don't know their full impact, but in this area have certainly resulted in the loss of most larger reptiles and some birds)

Page from a nature notebook

Northern Pobblebonk - or Lymnodynastes convexiusculus

Overall winner, TSN Art Show 2009

A notebook with entries spanning 15 years in Humpty Doo, including most of the native frogs from this area and some creatures no longer seen here....