Friday 30 March 2007

what fires bring



We've had a long, hot firey, summer here in Victoria. Bush fires burned for something like 6 weeks (possibly longer?) in many of the national parks and it was a smokey, scary time even for those of us who live in the city. The wonderful thing about fire in the bush is that it generates life and does so remarkably quickly. Banksia seed pods like the ones in this print of mine (seed pod in black) burst open and drop their seeds to the ground due to the intense heat that fire brings, and so the process of life can continue. Two Canadian friends have just been cycling in the Alpine National Park area (northern Victoria) and say it is starting to spring back to life now. The beautiful green of new growth pushing through, almost phosphoresecent in colour, glows against the charred black ground and trees surrounding it.

4 comments:

  1. I just discovered your blog through flickr.
    Of course i already knew your designs and love 'em. Your blog is lovely too. Inspirational and so so peaceful. I love textures and mussles on rocks by the sea too!

    Beautymist
    http://strangerfiction.canalblog.com/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/19237938@N00/

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  2. once again- just gorgeous- I love the reality too that fire is sometimes necessary in nature to allow something else to bloom!

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  3. so well described! we spent some time in the Grampians after the bushfires, and the landscape had this eerie soft glow to it, right after the fires, and about siz months later, the trees all took on this bushy green monster look with shoots coming out from the trunks - very weird, and strikingly beautiful. Wish I took photos.... :) Lovin' your blog by the way. :)

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  4. Wow, I love this print. We came to Oz in 2000 and I really loved those unusual banksia plants, great to draw.

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