Ripped Paddock

91 x 76 cms  1998

$1450 Sold

When we bought our property at Currency Creek we were surrounded by dairy or beef properties but, right behind us, was the result of the governments 'vine pull' scheme from the 80's, when a superabundance of grapes had caused a glut and the collapse of the market. It was about 20 acres of mature vines, chopped off at the base and left hanging on their wires, while the irrigation pipes rotted away and shreds of black plastic littered both that paddock and ours. It was an ugly, desolate (and unpaintable) scene.

But, even with low rainfall and barren and sandy soils, because of a good underground water supply and our proximity to the waterways around Goolwa, inevitably, the cheap land was again planted with grapes and this is the first of the vineyard paintings.

The paddocks were, of course, wrecked, the water has become increasingly saline and the market is dying.

A year or so after this painting, all the land surrounding is was planted up, and we moved up to Mannum, into an area zoned 'dry land farming'.