“The Fishing Spot” is an acrylic painting of Ashton’s Wharf at Maroochy River, Sunshine coast, which is where I used to walk to of a nice morning and return to for the beautiful sunsets of an evening. “The Mystery”, also an acrylic painting, depicts a young woman walking towards a hole in the tree-line, which just happened to be in the middle of the panoramic view from the verandah of Janine and Brad’s house where I house sat in Maroochy River; the hole in the trees fascinated both my niece Loretta and me – it drew us into the landscape.

“I know why it’s there,” said Loretta as we neared the row of trees with the hole.

But I’m not going to tell you the reason, you’ll have to look at the painting and work it out for yourself (just to make life more interesting!). I think Loretta looks very picturesque herself in her red hat and dress against the background of green – and she’s a bit mysterious, too, in that she is facing the trees rather than the viewer. Like my niece, look inside the hole and you will find the answer to the mystery of the hole.