“It all comes back to moving to Northland, which was a big change from having spent my adult life in an urban environment. I live on 15 acres of bush – that’s what I’m immersed in my day-to-day life. I spend my time tracking possums, pulling out weeds. I would never have ventured down this route if I wasn’t in Northland. It’s the only reason these works have come about. I’ve always painted from life, from what I’ve been doing, or my environment. This is different – my life has changed quite a bit.

The first thing that came to me when I settled up here, was McCahon’s Northland Panels. It's as though I’m driving through them every day. Coming back to painting, it just felt like a starting point. It’s not dissimilar to getting the band back together, and warming-up by playing a few covers. There are a few obvious things I’ve put in the works – there’s 8 panels, the care very similar. But I’ve tried to make these works my own, and I’ve enjoyed that process.

Jeff Brown, 2024