“I painted this work after reading ‘The Mountain,’ by Druscilla Modjeska. The novel is set in New Guinea, and her detailed prose inspired this layered painting of a bird of paradise, which is not only a beautiful subject, but one that is layered in to and evocative of the country’s identity. The painting has layers of background colour, incisions and diagrams painted over and rubbed back, in the back and forth way I like to work. Also layered into the image are fragments of a map, and sea-like growths. Colour is very important to me, and I work with it instinctively, nearly always mixing tertiaries, for their subtlety.”

Catherine Nolan, Sydney 2013