Year - 2008 · Size - 29 x 20 cm / 11½ x 7¾ in · Medium - Ink on paper

A walk up the hill close to where I grew up near Melbourne Airport takes you to Gellibrand Hill in Woodlands Park. The views from the top are nearly 360 degrees — a great place to get your bearings, watch the city, and see the planes come and go. There are historic ruins up there from a bygone era, as well as exotic trees and garden plants that have survived the years and gone wild. One of these is Agave americana, the century plant, forming a huge clump around a massive outcrop of granite boulders. The effect is stunning, especially with the enormous flower stems, thick as trunks.

There was a time when I'd wander up there at night with a tripod and camera, capturing their forms with timelapse photography. This painting is an ode to those times.