Filtered Light – Boranup Forest 2022 by Jo Darvall

Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 1250 x 1100 x 20

Sixty meter high Karri trees arch over my head and my heart skips a beat as the sun streaks through the graffitied trunks. Wildflowers, orchids and fungi combine with the sounds of native birds and I am breathless with the beauty of the Boranup Forest and instantly make plans to return.

A day later I am back, balancing my sketch books on the log of a fallen giant and start to draw, recording the movement and light. Over the next two weeks I returned whenever I could and after a walk, and the occasional nap (depending on the persistent mosquitos) I would build up a collection of drawings, paintings, sketches and a personal relationship with this pocket of the Karri Forest. Little did I know that in four months this same grove will have been transformed into something completely different by a raging fire.