Margaret River Vineyard Paintings

We’re standing below Caves Road and looking east towards the dawn. The sun is coming up across Calgardup Brook. The trees you can see are Marri and Jarrah. On that stunning morning, I remember the sound of willie wagtails singing and the wind blowing through the trees.

In the heat of summer the grapes are hidden under the leaves of the vine, to protect them from the sun. This painting is showing the stunning Margaret River dawn light that you see between five and six in the morning – if you can get up early enough. These fully laden Chardonnay vines are soaking up the warmth.

We can see that it is late autumn in the Margaret River vineyards. The leaves are changing colour and the pastures have turned green. The line of trees is the Bussell Highway.

We are looking over a vineyard dam in the early morning light. This is right at the bottom of a chain of about five dams. Caves Road is behind us and that ridge up there is where Wildwood Road runs.

We are looking at a sunset view of the vineyard and Caves Road. That is the Leeuwin Ridge behind it. I feel very proud that I could capture this scene. I think there’s nothing else quite like it in the world.

We can see Harmans Mill Road running off on the left of the picture. Caves Road is behind us and it’s running up into the wooded area that lies east of Caves Road on the ridges above.You can see some smoke from the burning off of vine trimmings.

This is a painting about the business of picking the grapes and working in the vineyard. You’ll notice the tractor in the background on this stunning summers day.

One day I was painting in the vineyards and I spotted some secateurs. They’d been left behind on a post. I was suddenly so impressed that all these vines were hand pruned. What an extraordinary labour of love.

On the other side of that pasture is Wildwood Road. That stand of trees is one of my favourite places to paint the vineyards of Margaret River.

These are vineyards near Dunsborough. The ocean is just over the other side of those Marri’s. I didn’t pay much attention to the name of the place because I was so delighted by the colours of the Marri’s and vines.

It’s dawn and we are standing at the gate of a vineyard on Caves Road, looking at the middle ridge. That far ridge is where Wildwood Road is.

This is a very recognisable sort of view you’ll see in the vineyards down at Margaret River. We are looking down across the valley to Wildwood Road. The road is hidden behind those trees in the middle. There’s a vastness to the valley and the sky.

We are standing in the dawn light looking east from the vineyard.

We are looking at Harmans Mill Road around midday in high summer. You can see I’m very taken by the vivid blue sky and the bright light.

It is late afternoon in the Margaret River summer. We are looking at the view of Caves Road and the vineyards on a hot day.

This painting is about the experience of looking into a blaze of colour. The detail of what is around you recedes because the light is intense. We are looking at the late summer sun in the afternoon. Those pompom plants are providing golden reflected light.