Story of the Piece: The Keeper

Some things you never grow out of.

Dragons were part of my world before I knew what art was — mythical creatures that existed somewhere between good and evil, ancient and untameable. Smaug on his hoard. Toothless in the sky. The ones that guard things worth guarding. I never tired of them and I don't intend to.

This one guards the galaxy and gold!

The resin pour was two tones — deep blue and gold — and what happened when they met was something I didn't plan and couldn't have. It looks like deep space. Like something ancient rising out of the cosmos with gold running through it like veins of treasure. The rock he coils around is local quincan — the dark, porous stone of Far North Queensland — and the gold pebbles at his feet are exactly what you'd expect a dragon to accumulate.

He has red eyes. Of course he does.

This is the first in a series. The next ones will guard other things — forests, rivers, perhaps a princess. Each one will be different. Each one will be watching.

The things that have lived get to live again — and become something that lives in another person's soul.

Materials: Resin, local quincan rock, brass dragon, gold-painted pebbles

Dimensions: 17cm x 16cm x 10cm

Price: $490