“A week before lockdown began my wife brought our second child into this world. Our beautiful little girl was born into a small isolated world. Our eldest daughter had just begun kindergarten and was now locked away in our home, away from her new friends and the other children in the street.

Children are not meant to be raised this way. It takes a village to raise a child. We were suddenly without the support of family, friends and neighbours. We were balancing home schooling with nurturing a new born. Facilitating creative play with limited resources and trying to avoid the television.

But it could have been worse, our backyard was a saviour. Salute to all the single mothers, parents in apartment blocks and especially to all those caring for children with special needs.

After two weeks of paternity leave, I went back to work. As a field officer in the NSW National Parks we didn’t shut down but continued our work, focusing on rehabilitating and rebuilding the areas devastated by the fires of the past summer. The work was hard and dirty but it was much harder for my wife at home with our two girls, attempting online kindergarten classes whilst sleep deprived, breast feeding, nurturing sleepy eyes and little minds. And she did it all with so much strength, commitment and undivided love that was truly inspirational.

I was prepared for my art practice to be greatly reduced with the new addition to our little family. But the extra strain of the pandemic made it almost impossible to find time to paint. So, I began to draw more. Previously drawing was simply a step in the painting process. Painting ideas would be scribbled out in black books as a way to flesh out ideas and play with composition. During these tough times it became my main creative outlet. If I only had ten minutes, I could pull out a pen and draw, I didn’t need much space, I didn’t need to set up paint and prep canvas. And when family duties called, I could simply put the pen away and close the book.

In some ways I became more consistent and focused. Every night now I sit up outside my eldest daughters’ room and draw whilst she drifts off to sleep. With rain sounds in the other room drifting my wife and baby off to another night of broken sleep, my eldest daughter falls to sleep with the sounds of my ball point pen scratching on paper.” - Kane 'Trait' Horspool

‘Deafening Silence, Life amongst the Charcoal’
Pen on A3 paper

47 x 57cm (framed)

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