The Pinnacles

I painted several views of Stirling Vale Creek, but only this one has a view of the Pinnacles. When I painted this scene, it had just stopped raining after a summer storm, a precious moment since rain is a rare occurrence in the desert. I had to paint rapidly to capture the puddles of water. They were disappearing before my eyes, evaporating in the dry air and sinking into the sandy creek bed. One of my larger landscapes, it required a sturdy makeshift easel to prevent the composition board (Masonite) from blowing over in the wind. To assemble the easel on the spot, I drove two stakes into the ground with a rock, securing the board to the stakes with four G-clamps at the corners. This is one of many outback landscapes that I painted during recess from art school in Adelaide, when I went home to Broken Hill. My parents drove me to remote locations leaving me there to paint and draw, picking me up at the end of the day.