This composition grew around the two road signs, with the Stobie pole behind, which are quite close to home. I was stunned by their visual juxtaposition but it turned out to be very difficult to position them so that they were exactly as I wanted them, in both design and perspective.

This was painted as the war on Iraq was being planned and my confusion got into the trees, the soldiers behind, and the wire, while the hills rose behind it all and the bound-up truck passed, filled with grinning clowns.

That clown logo appeared in a photograph, given to me by a friend, of a Laughing Clowns stall. I never psychoanalyse my work, but follow an instinct that leads me to scrape off, rub out, add bits until the image becomes complete and separate from myself. That clown is, however, probably me going 'BLAH' at you. The Marilyn Manson image used in the Carousel, Wet Horse, etc has a similar effect.

**There are more notes on the truck on the 'Trucks' Page and a comparison of my development in painting the Mount Lofty Ranges on the Compare Hills Page.