We spent the first week of the school holidays visiting family who are restoring the homestead up on Puttapa Station in the northern Flinders Ranges. We struck gold with the weather and had a brilliant week experiencing life on an outback station.
Highlights included witnessing a brilliant sunrise over the ranges while heading out on a water run, seeing the kids enthusiastically herding sheep into the shearing shed despite being on the same eye level with them and spending a day behind the wheel of an old 4WD bashing over the rough terrain (pausing for a BBQ lunch over a fire in a dry creek bed) with the kids flailing their arms about in the back more excitedly than if they were careering down on a roller coaster ride.
Brilliant!
I decided not to take my paints with me this trip (took a lot of great pictures that I hope to be able to do something with down the track) but I did bring some drawing gear in case the opportunity to do some sketching arose.
When it did, I thought it might be nice to do a sketch of the homestead as a thank you for looking after us for the week. I parked myself in a camp chair under the shade of an old water tank and scribbled away for an hour (for the bits when I wasn’t swatting away flies) with the buzz of shearing clippers in the background and not a care in the world.
