Pirrinya is a small swamp formed at certain times of the year by water from a soakage further northwest in Western Australia. There are several rocky hills nearby which also trap rain water that feeds into the swamp. In the Tjukurrpa, a large group of ancestral Tingarri men camped at this swamp before traveling east.

Charlie was seated on the verandah in front of the painting rooms when we arrived, at work on a large canvas. He was still drawing the main design in red on a black underpainting. I’ve had the chance to watch artists at various stages of the creation of works (and would have many more opportunities before this trip was over), but I realized I’d never seen this stage of the process before. Charlie worked rapidly and assuredly, and what I found most interesting was that after completing one stroke, he would quickly move his hand maybe two or three inches farther along the intended track of the line, lay down a short dash of paint, and then unhesitatingly fill in the space between that mark and the place where the previous brushstroke had ended. Then he’d move on another few inches, lay down another quick dash of the red paint, and connect it back to the previous stroke.