Solstice Through The Redgums - 120cm x 90cm - Original Oil Painting on Canvas

This painting was made on the winter solstice in 2025.

Before first light my wife, our daughters, and their cousins set out on a bushwalk with a thermos of hot chocolate. It was freezing, drizzling, and the kind of grey winter morning where the world feels completely still. We climbed up onto a rock overlooking the valley where the red gums opened toward the distant ranges of the national park.

We couldn’t see the ocean from there, but we could see the first light of the sun slowly arriving behind the hills.

At first everything was a wash of cold greys. Then, almost imperceptibly, the light began to move through the landscape. The greys softened into muted yellows and greens. The dark trunks of the gums shifted toward deep violets and purples. Even the paddock in the distance carried a quiet apricot glow.

It was a gentle transformation, and even the kids—usually full of motion—fell quiet watching it happen.

When we arrived home I mixed the colours I remembered from that moment and painted this work as an abstract response to the sunrise we had just witnessed.

The palette is deliberately calm and atmospheric, carrying the quiet warmth that slowly replaced the cold morning light. It’s a painting that invites stillness, making it particularly suited to bedrooms, reading spaces, or anywhere a sense of calm is welcome.