Cardigan In The Desert.

By Paul D Robertson

Oils, 95 x 75cms.

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I did this piece while I was working at the Babylon Hotel. When I say working, I mean painting. I had a deal where I would paint in public at the pub and get free coffee and exhibition space in return. Pretty sweet really.

I got to be friends with a lot of the waitresses there, so when I was placing the figure in the foreground I based it on one of them - she was wearing a Cardigan and had a bag with her. She was running late and flustered.

I like the idea of the figures in my landscapes being deeply self-involved despite the dramatic and unusual things happening around them and this is a good example. She is looking at her watch in the midst of a desert in the face of an incoming maelstrom.

To her the fact that she is late for work or whatever else it implies is far more important than where she is or what is happening.

Also there is that I am kind of obsessed with time (the whole Einsteinian relativity thing and spooky quantum theory throws our understanding of the world into disarray) so I try to refer to it every time I can.

This is probably my favourite of all my landscapes - just for the colour. I sold it in 2003 through the perth Royal show exhibition.