On a back fence in Oturehua, I found this fine Ram's skull, slowly gathering lichens as it bleaches and disintegrates over years of exposure to the Central Otago seasons.

Bones and the crucifix form have been frequent elements in my work since I was a teenager, both loaded with symbolic meaning - or not, as you choose. Their appeal to me is a strong one, and I periodically find myself responding to that same life-long call, giving them a new form, a new compositional structure.

This painting follows the trend of recent years for me, towards a minimal content and arrangement, but it seems to sum up a lot of what I've been doing, and what's been happening to me, in the last decade.

GRAHAME SYDNEY