Reflection - White Boulder - Standley Chasm

This painting is based on a watercolour artwork I've done en plein air and some photographs I've taken at Stanley Chasm, Northern Territory. I was on a 3-month long solo road trip through Central Australia and Kakadu National Park in 2024 after quitting my full-time job as a management consultant for 12 years and wanted to explore the possibility of becoming an artist. I was immediately mesmerised the moment I set foot at Stanley Chasm late in the afternoon on 20 July 2024. The white boulder with its reflection on the small waterhole caught my eye. It was peculiar how the white boulder ended up being lodged in the rusty red chasm. It felt out of place and probably mirroring how I was feeling at the juncture in my life. I attempted to paint it in oil but I ended up creating a mess. The sun was fading and I decided to scrap off the paint and start again the next morning. I brought my watercolour kit and sat on a big rock in the chasm from early in the morning. It was a great time meditating upon this scenery as there were no one around. I gasped as the reflected sunlight awakened the chasm in a dramatic moment with cold rusty colour transformed into hues of red and orange.