The mighty Mekong, It’s been part of my life for nearly 30 years. I have been on it, next to it, have flown over it and have seen it from six different countries. 

Rivers always are an important part of civilisation and humanity. I have always painted rivers and deltas so I decided to paint a highlighted section of the Mekong delta. I have spent time at the delta a few times in Vietnam so this work brought back magical memories of my life as I was painting the work. 

When I paint, I see the work in my mind and I work on a horizontal table top and I only see it from an angle. This it’s not how I make it to be viewed.  When I complete the work, I see it for the first time when it’s hanging. As this is my widest individual painting, I had to hang it in the local courthouse to view it completely. 

Seeing the Mekong delta flowing into the ocean and the seeing the reflection of the sky on the marshes appear in front of me.  What I had in my minds eyes had materialised. It makes my heart warm for the part of the world I feel is my home. 

It was an emotional work, as I had planned for a year before I was able to even commence it.  I sketched it out while in my studio in Australia and then while traveling in Cambodia, through the Kingdom, I started with one dot while in Phnom Penh, continued in Battambang and then in Siem Reap. And again back in Phnom Penh it was completed with 19,660 lotus impressions. It felt like a full circle, a completed work, one of my largest individual works. What joy I have when I finally saw it completed and hanging, a work that has so many stories entwined within the lotus impressions of the  flowing water of the mighty Mekong. 

SIZE 238 x 79cm
93″ x 31″
lotus ink on watercolor paper
unframed