A love story of a different kind...

This particular work was begun a few weeks before my trip to Scotland. It was inspired by the song "Gooserider" by Scottish band Beluga Lagoon. The goose, symbolic of the divine, carries the woman across the seas and into the unknown. The two are tethered to each other by a red ribbon, red being symbolic of life and of luck, and tied with a bow rather than a knot, signifying that both are on this journey, not by force,  but by choice and as willing participants. Either one could, at any given time, release the bow that ties the two together. They are leaving the warmth of the sun behind them as it sets, and heading into the unknown; towards a sky full of the moon and the stars. In my paintings the moon represents the masculine principle rather than the feminine, so in effect the feminine is traveling to meet her masculine counterpart, signifying a union of the two. After beginning this painting, the symbol of the goose seemed to pop up everywhere I looked, both in Australia and throughout the duration of my short stay in Scotland, as if to be a constant reminder that I was not alone. Apart from being a Pictish symbol from antiquity, the month of September was also the start of goose migration season, which I found particularly fitting. The Pink Footed Geese, like me, are not a native to Scotland, but choose to find shelter in Scotland. This painting is a love story of a different kind. It is symbolic of an irrational, but very real love of a girl for Scotland, its land, its rivers, its hills and its seas.