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By exploring a photo I’d taken on the Central Coast in 1984 I came up with this painting I’ve called Fishing for Thanks. As I gazed through the rig of a fishing boat in the foreground of the photo, I was happy to see one trawler had a name. Framed inside the metal rig was the black and white nameplate of a boat called THANKS.

To reveal the simplicity of the trawlers in the artwork I removed the metal rig. And in front of the bait table I added a pelican to the scene called Mr Ponder. He is sitting on the dock and waiting for the fisherman to return with a catch of fresh fish.

I think it’s the symmetry between the wharf’s white posts and the boats that has drawn me back to this image. I love the colour scheme of the boats; pastels of soft blue and yellow are contrasted against deep turquoise and brilliant orange. And appropriately the boat THANKS has secured all the boats in colour harmony by being painted in pastel blue, white, black and orange.

Notice how the foreground trawler has an orange metal roof that is reflecting the air vents and a lifebuoy with tinges of magenta. And how the bait table on the wharf anchors the ten fishing boats as they diminish into the dark river estuary behind. I also like the trawlers wooden bows. They are as solid as the white pilings on the dock, and this feeling of steadfastness is counter balanced by the slender ropes securing them together.

I went searching for this wharf on Google as I can’t recall where I’d taken the photo. I’m certain it was on the Central Coast, because of the river estuary in the background, I think it could have been either the Hawkesbury or the Tuggerah Lakes region of NSW.