Landscapes in Isolation

Works from Mt Field National Park, Tasmania

2021 Red Hill Gallery

This series of works followed a plein air sketching trip Adrienne undertook in late 2019 to a much loved landscape she has been visiting for almost 30 years — Mt Field National Park, Tasmania.

Days were spent wandering and scribbling in the alpine wilderness, hiking up to tarn shelfs and perching above island stands of fragile pencil pines. In every variation of the early summer weather — sleet, snow, drizzle, mizzle and glorious sunshine.

The works are the beginnings of her conversations with these landscapes: studies of the Tasmanian snow gums and waratahs, of cushion plants and pineapple grass are ongoing. The washi paper used in the collaged works has been printed using Tasmanian waratah and nothofagus leaves.

Adrienne has always been drawn to wilderness. In her work she explores the sense of space and peace in a place, alongside the messy chaos of wild gales on lake surfaces or the complicated plant communities crowding an alpine moor.

She wants you to be up there above the treeline with her, seeing the colour sing on wet snow gum trunks, or feeling the cold pulse from the icy colours of the tarns. And then retreat to the warm hut for hot chocolates and wombat sightings.