Melbourne’s currently in week 1,000 of COVID lockdown (or at least that’s how it feels sometimes), which means most of us can’t travel more than 5km from our homes. While that can feel extremely limiting, especially if your friends and family are local but more than 5km away, I’m trying to focus on the positive things. One big positive - it means I’m slowly discovering every little green section of my zone, and I’m going on lots of walks in my neighbourhood.

One house that I walk past all the time used to have the sweetest garden, tended by its owner, an elderly lady named Olive. I met Olive briefly one day a few years ago, when I was walking by just as local legend photographer the Westographer, aka Warren Kirk, was photographing Olive and her house. Sadly Olive moved on not long after that and since then, the house has fallen into a state of decay. I was lamenting this recently, on a local lockdown walk, but then I realised I could bring the house back to its former state of glory by drawing it as it was, based on the Westographer’s photo. So that’s what I did. Above is a shot of the pen and ink drawing in my notebook, and below is how it looks after it’s been digitised and coloured (and yes, I take liberties here - Olive did not have a pink house :) Nothing like a good old lockdown to get you looking closely at what’s around you!

If you like it, West Footscray House is now available as a fine art print, in A4 and A3 sizes.

Thanks to Warren Kirk, AKA the Westographer, for permission to reference his photo. Warren is a photographer who captures a world that is quickly disappearing, and is the author of multiple books, including Westography (2016), Suburbia (2018) and Northside (due out late September 2020). He also shares his shots on Flickr.