As of the 1 August, I will have completed 128 drawings on my scroll. Today, 1 August, I have 2872 days to go.
Preparing this scroll is an interesting process because I am only working on one small section at a time. I rarely see the total picture of what I am doing because it is not something you can plan a composition for. Each new plant is added somewhere on the paper close to the last drawing … one drawing after another.
Nothing is planned in pencil beforehand. Everything is drawn directly in pen – no room for mistakes.
Globally, we don’t have much capacity to make mistakes any more either – the consequences are too severe, such as
- the impact of the recent bushfires in the UK, France, Spain and Portugal,
- the devastating heatwaves in the northern hemisphere ,
- learning about a damning report on The State of the Environment in Australia.
- Over the last two centuries, Australia has lost more mammal species than any other continent and 19 ecosystems are showing signs of or are near collapse.
- Since 2016, 202 animal and plant species have been listed as threatened, including the beautiful koala and gang-gang cockatoo.
- Habitat loss and invasive species are the two biggest threats to native mammal populations. It’s estimated each year up to 6.3 million feral cats will kill 456 million native mammals, 446 million reptiles, 272 million birds and 92 million frogs. (University of South Australia)
- This rate of decline has been exacerbated by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019/2020. It is estimated between one and three billion animals were killed or displaced as more than 10.3 million hectares went up in flames.
- It is the loss of biodiversity and climate change impacts which are the cause of many of these problems.
And then there are the inspirational people like Noel Cartwright and other locals in in Grenfell, NSW, who have worked hard to identify and conserve plants in his local area, and who has discovered many new plants through his keen observation.
At my recent solo exhibition in Grenfell, I showed the “3000 days …” scroll at the opening – you can see from the photos how closely people looked at the plants I had there – which included the lovely little Grevillea lanigera spp Grenfell, first noticed by Noel Cartwright.
I hope this energises you too … what can you do to help our planet? Every small positive action will make a difference.
Like you, I want to see our planet survive … I want our flora and fauna to thrive. I can’t change the world, but I can do what I can within my own means to try to make a difference.