Uluru and desertscapes

I've always wanted to visit Central Australia and see for myself what our desert looks like. In my mind, I have a picture of an arid place, red dust everywhere. But when I got here, I found a surprisingly lush landscape, mulga trees, bushes, spinifax and grasslands dotting the ochre red earth. The hotel staff said that it rained heavily last weekend and the evidence is there with odd puddles, water leaking from the rocks and water holes that are full. The hotel pool area has these amazing ghost gums with dead white straight trunks.


The gallery had an artists in residence program and this month is Brian Dobson, a watercolorist from Maclaren Vale in South Australia. Brian has some gorgeous waterscape but I have a feeling that watercolors don't suit desertscapes. Also he paints Uluru as a whole rock which is what those postcard photographs do. A big cliche in my book. Maybe the tourists like them because they can recognize it. I set myself up at sunset near the resort's lookout point to sketch the landscape. It was gorgeous with the red earth, purple shadows and greenery.


Unfortunately I think that either watercolor cannot depict the extremely vivid colours and spiky shapes accurately or more likely, my skills in this media are sadly lacking. This morning we went to do a tour of the rock itself and up close it's deserving of the reputation. There were caves used by the aboriginals with rock art and lots of dreamtime stories. Plus this massive red rock wall as a backdrop.