Local Ruffy artist, Andrew Bond attracted local and regional visitors to his launch of ‘The Desert and Friends’ series of paintings.

The series was inspired by Andrew’s recent travels through Victoria’s Desert National Parks. Andrew talks about his work:

‘Life is always changing and interesting. My illustrations have always been “detailed and tight” so it has been a joy and challenge to work in acrylics and larger formats, but it has also been hard not to slip back into old habits. It feels to me like the desert lends itself to larger canvases or the tight cropping of images to exaggerate the vastness of the landscape. If you get caught up in the detail you almost destroy what you are trying to achieve: it’s the flavour I’m trying to capture. I often start with one or more photographs with the intention of duplicating what they contain, but I never get there – along the way I experiment or a ‘slip of the brush’ becomes a feature’.

‘For me this series has been a huge learning curve; I’ve learnt to relax and see where the adventure takes me. Wyperfeld, Hattah and Mungo are all different – saltwater and freshwater lakes, kilometres of dunes and salt bush, tall forests, immense skies and the smallest of insects and flowers. From shinglebacks to goannas, from tiny wrens to emus – the desert is never dull. I’m starting to appreciate the wealth of Aboriginal culture and the struggles of the early white settlers, but when the locals tell me “summers can be 50 degrees in the shade”, I wonder why you would live there! ‘

‘These Desert National Parks appear like islands surrounded by bright yellow seas of agriculture, dotted with small brick-veneer houses with huge sheds out the back containing millions of dollars’ worth of machinery. Even outside the parks things are always changing, the desert area is never idle’.