Black Swans and Powerful Owls are iconic native birds living within Ballarat.

Black Swans live in healthy numbers within the city of Ballarat’s, Lake Wendouree, the largest urban bound lake in Australia.
Recent times have echoed the metaphor of ‘Black Swan Events’ the name given to unforeseen and unprecidented incidents that have huge impact on participants.

After the 2019 Australian bush fires, it felt right to draw these resilliant Black Swans with black burnt willow charcoal, as a symbol of the colonial willow tree clearing around Lake Wendouree.

After numerous unprecendented events in recent times, part of my healing came from walking within local bushland named Woowookarung Regional Park, on the edge of Ballarat city. During this time, local bush lovers sighted a rare native owl named Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua).The return of this owl is a heart-warming story, as the bush-land had been under threat of development into housing estates. thankfully local environmentalists recognised the biodiversity within that bush, so lobbied hard to save it. Now the flora and fauna are returning untold treasures.

I painted these owls using earth ochre pigments which are eco-friendly, 100% archival and UV stable. Earth ochres have been used by most traditional human cultures since antiquity.