Woman and Child spirit dreaming

No.30.   in my series of short stories.

Woman and Child Spirit Dreaming

SOLD. This watercolour and pastel piece of art with aboriginal rock drawings of a woman and child spirit dreaming received a highly commended at the Cossack Art Awards. I do not remember the year.

I often painted with an aboriginal man from Roebourne a Mr Terry Thompson he taught me so much about aboriginal art. In the 1990,s Terry offered me to take over his position at a place called Ramingining. Ramingining is an Aboriginal community of mainly Yolngu people in the Northern Territory, Australia, 560 kilometres east of Darwin. It is on the edge of the Arafura Swamp in Arnhem Land. Wulkabimirri is a tiny outstation nearby, and Murwangi, further south, is part of the Ramingining Homelands.

Terry had been working there for some time and needed a break to come home to Roebourne to see family. We drove up to Ramingining to have a look and weigh up the job situation and I decided not to take the position as Art Coordinator teacher as we were going gold prospecting on the side of the Great Sandy Desert and I had so many paintings to do for an art show at Perth Casino. In the late 1990's my art was also hanging in the Qantas Business Lounge at Crown.

After coming down from Ramingining we headed for Rudall River. Rudall River area encompasses over 1.3 million hectares between the Great Sandy Desert and the Little Sandy Desert and is approximately 260 kms east of Mount Newman. We didn't go quite that far out as Rudall River but settled for some prospecting within the area and swimming in some beautiful water holes. I came up with the above picture after passing rock carvings earlier on in our trip. The woman in the picture is upside down and clinging onto her happy place with her child next to her.