Metamorphique: Frenchman’s Cap, Vera and Tahune

Fluid paint morphs and marbles, folding inside out from macro to micro… as above, so below. I deploy paint to mimic the topography of Frenchman’s Cap, a Jurassic beacon of sparkling white quartzite gouged by glacial lakes in the heart of the West Coast. I manipulate the medium to embody metamorphic processes: geological flows and ice floes. Paint’s sinew becomes Huon, King Billy and Fagus. Painted in honour of my Great Grandfather John Ernest Philp (bushman, explorer and sailor 1869-1937). John Ernest cut the first track to Frenchman’s cap in 1910. He named Lake Vera as a love letter to his wife and Lake Tahune after his pen name.