A Brief Rest

This was painted en plein air during my solo road trip through Central Australia to Northern Territory for 3 months in 2024.

A couple was already in the rock pool when I arrived at the Tjaetaba Falls. I thought I would give them some quality time absorbing the beautiful scenery so I sat slightly away from them. Here, I found this red dragonfly resting on the tip of some yellow flower.

I started working on the painting as quickly as I could. This dragonfly did not stay at the spot for too long... others came and gone.

The couple started chatting with me and I told them I had some rough time at work so I quit my job and wanted to spend some time painting. "Enjoy the medicine!", she said as they were leaving.

I never got a chance to swim there as people kept pouring in. I had a friendly dragonfly that would perch on my finger tip and we became quite acquainted.