Pastel on Colourfix paper     60 X 92cm

Every year a few brolgas from the dwindling Victorian population come to spend a couple of weeks on Lake Wendouree in the middle of my home town of Ballarat. They would historically have been permanently in the area but draining of wetlands and influx of feral foxes have seen an end to that. I painted this artwork during the ten year drought not long ago when the fast drying lake became the point of last refuge for many water birds including the annual brolgas.

Underlying the beauty in this painting is my concern for the fragility of wetland ecosystems.