View to Geelong
Running in and around Ceres and the beautiful Barrabool Hills overlooking the Barwon River and Geelong is a real joy. I discovered the area running and hiking in the hills, kayaking along the river and then painting the scene from the McCann’s farm. Sandra and Gregor McCann had kindly welcomed me every weekend in February 2021 to paint. I also enjoyed learning about the history and development of the area.
View to Geelong, Zahidah Zeytoun Millie, 104x145cm, acrylic, oil pastel and oil. 2022
I don’t aim to replicate Eugene von Guerard’s View of Geelong (1856) which is painted from a different location; further east of the Barrabool Hills as attributed in the Artist as Traveller, the Sketchbooks of Eugene von Guerard (2018). I aim to study the Hills through painting. Geoff Carr in Geelong’s Changing Landscape (2019) notes that von Guerard’s View of Geelong is painted from present day Highton looking north towards the Newtown escarpment at Fyansford with the distant You Yangs on the horizon.
I greatly enjoyed painting View to Geelong and I hope you enjoy viewing this painting.