I had the next painting lined up in my head, it had something to do with a Cow and a Rat or maybe a bird of some kind. BUT! STOP THE BUS!  My creative innards told me to do something different when I experienced a seriously intrepid frog.

I'd had this Green Tree Frog living in my plastic rural postbox for around 3 weeks and I was really worried that he was getting jabbed by letters and parcels, but most of all that he'd be baked alive during our 32 Celsius days. I decided to relocate him 850 metres away to the top of the hill where I live surrounded in dense bush and near our water tanks. There are also some very pretty frog ladies there too, so I thought he would be happy.

So, I WAS WRONG. This white lipped handsome fella decided he was going back to the home he'd chosen himself, it took him two whole days. You can imagine my surprise when I found him back there. How did he find his way, through dense bush and almost a kilometre? How did he know the direction to go in the first place?

It set me thinking about his adventures and so I came up with this....... my story is fiction (but this does happen all the time)

This painting is called 'Land Acquisition Order'and my story begins............

The frog I don't know personally only his plight...The Department of Transport and Main Roads  had written to the owner of the land with the final Land Acquisition Order detail. The owner left some time ago and the rural property has been left empty. There will be a road going through, housing, shops everything. The Frog and the Spider are wondering why the human hasn't been back for so long and has left the door to swing open, without taking the letter. They are not in for a good time and will either have to adapt....or...............??

Next instalment painting in a couple of months...maybe.....if they make it.

This painting was inspired when one of my Facebook friends messaged me about a Spectacled Hare Wallaby, just by chance she sent a lovely photograph of a wallaby she was fostering called Forrest. First of all I was totally mystified as to what species she was, this is despite 11 years caring for macropods. I was enchanted by the cheeky look on this little one’s face and so I asked if it was OK for me to create a painting of her. This is the result..... She was an absolute pleasure to paint and I enjoyed every hour, the background though was... a challenge. I painted four different versions before going with my original attempt in linking her name with the background.

Forrest was being raised by foster Mum Dianne for Zoos South Australia. Deeply concerned about the decline of Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies in the wild, Zoos SA had embarked on a breeding and native wildlife reintroduction programme in 1996. The project is one of the longest running in Australia and has been a great success to date.

So, well done Adelaide Zoo! Dianne and Forrest of course.