Homecoming
A bit over a week ago, I visited my parents on our little farm just outside of Mudgee. I say ‘our’ farm, but I haven’t properly lived there since highschool. Somehow, it still feels like home. I think it always will.
Everything I create has roots there; not in my actual hometown, but in the locality ten minutes outside of it, where we lived. The flowers I draw absent-mindedly on receipt paper on quiet days at work are the same ones I see in my Mum’s garden. The black dog I sketch for anatomy practise is the one that used to bite me.
It’s incredibly ironic, really. The place I used to dream about leaving for the bright lights of the city has followed me here. It seems to be all tangled up in my being now. I’m a mosaic of Dad’s cups of tea with fresh, mountain rainwater and kangaroo bones and butterflies from the next lane over. And I love it.
It’s a place that smells like dust and lanolin. A place that freezes your nose in the Wintertime and burns it every Summer; with neighbours like family and a harmonica to soundtrack every aspect. You can sing along as loudly as you like there. My Mum grew up not too far from there (as did generations of our family before her) and that makes it even more special. It’s in my blood to call it home.
How could I not grow up to be an artist when that was where I spent my childhood?
Whenever people ask where my inspiration comes from, it’s the first thing that comes to my mind and whenever I visit, I’m reminded why. The beauty of my old home and all of its history is something I’ll never be able to mirror in a painting, a song or a written text, but that has never stopped me trying. The biggest starry skies and the most vibrant sunsets exist there. The entire life cycles of birds, snakes and sheep exist there. Mother nature exists there, like a God, almost. It feels like it sometimes, anyway. And if that doesn’t inspire you, then I’m not sure what will.
So, while I’m busy kicking doors down 280 kms away, I feel very lucky to know that there’s a spare key and a pair of boots there, waiting for me, whenever I need them.
xx Rose
