Shelter and Stillness, Quarantine Reserve

Painted en plein air at Quarantine Reserve in Abbotsford on a hot summer morning, this work centres on a weathered mangrove trunk rising from the tidal edge. Its bleached limbs, stripped and skeletal, contrast with the calm, pale water beyond and the distant rhythm of red-roofed homes. I was drawn to its quiet resilience, a remnant shaped by tide and time. Working from the shade of the pine trees lining the foreshore, I captured the meeting of shelter and exposure: cool shadow against sunlit bank, solidity against reflection. 

Oil paint on canvas. Approx. 20cm x25cm