Giclée print of Ghosts of the forest, painted in oil on canvas in 2007.

Back in my mid twenties I spent three weeks camping solo on the banks of Buckwong Creek near its junction with the Murray River. The Murray was full of trout so I spent my days hiking further and further upstream, fishing and swimming, navigating the bush via the animal tracks that threaded through the terrain. The hoofprints and evidence along those tracks told me brumbies used them, so I started looking.

They eluded me for the entire first week. I began to think of them as ghosts of the forest. Early in the second week I hiked to a clearing that showed all the signs of regular use, climbed the hill above it and waited. Sure enough, a mob trotted in and began to graze. I sat there for a couple of hours, mesmerised. I identified the bay stallion, his mares of different ages, smaller foals at the edges. Then the visitors arrived: a lone older stallion lurking at the outskirts, clearly the deposed rival trying to lure back his old mares, eventually chased off. Then three young colts came galloping in, caused a stir and bolted. Finally the mob grazed up the hill toward me until one spotted me, and they were gone.

Over the following weeks I would encounter this mob and others many times as I pushed deeper into the wilderness. It was a real love affair. This painting was made during that trip using homemade oil paint: pigments crushed from river stones with a mortar and pestle, mixed with linseed oil.

Printed with archival quality inks on archival paper, hand signed and dated.

Limited edition of 25 across all sizes.

Available unframed or framed.

Printed on A4 (21 x 29.7 cm / 8.3 x 11.7 in), A3 (29.7 x 42 cm / 11.7 x 16.5 in), A2 (42 x 59.4 cm / 16.5 x 23.4 in) or A1 (59.4 x 84.1 cm / 23.4 x 33.1 in) paper, with a white border around the image for matting. The image itself varies slightly in size with the proportions of each work.