A chattering in the gums.

No.24.   in my series of short stories.

A chattering in the gums

A chattering in the gums is a colourful happy and fun painting from my series of (It's all about the Birds).

This series was a great choice as I relate to these birds so much, after watching them for over 50 years during my outback adventures.

The trees are another of my favourite things to paint, so many types so many growth patterns and all rather unique.

Then comes the colour, I love to pop the colour. This series has been taken from places I have visited over the years and put together in my head to make an easy viewing happy outback scene, that I would hope would be something you would love to hang on your wall.

In Northern Western Australia the weather is often sweltering hot during the summer months, and to stop by a Billabong for a rest, some tucker, and a swim is something one can't help but do. Waterholes in the outback whenever or wherever you see one you have to jump in to cool down or just enjoy.

If you find nesting yellow tail black cockatoos you will have trouble hearing anything else but they're squawking. Try and camp over night and you don't have a chance as they never let up, especially during breading season.

We were camping near the Yule River just south of Port Hedland in Western Australia and it was only a few days after a cyclone, a chance at gold prospecting after the water had washed away another layer of red dirt, there is always a chance that some gold might have popped up somewhere.

I had given it a good go, trying to find some gold but my mind always wandered to the patterns and the colours in the rocks or colour of the paperbark on the gum trees, and awesome cyclonic cloud formations. I wasn't very good at prospecting and most times my husband would go over the same ground and find all the bits I missed. It gave him something to laugh about, like the day we hadn't found any gold and just to stir us up he took some of my acrylic gold paint and painted a couple of small stones and put them where he knew his son would be prospecting the next day. Well didn't that start a commotion they truly looked like gold nuggets, he daren't do it to me or there would be hell to pay.

So no gold to talk about just a handful of painted rocks and a cold beer after a long day out.