$5,800.00
The Homeward Drive Original Oil on Board 41cm x 31cm
From the shadowed edge of the forest a rider emerges, horse stepping sure-footed through the tawny grass. Ahead, a small mob of cattle moves steadily, their backs catching the light as it breaks through the canopy above. Sunbeams stream between the pale trunks, fragmenting into ribbons of gold that settle briefly on hide, bark and leaf before dissolving again into mist. It is a moment that exists only for minutes, perhaps seconds, and then is gone.
Kevin Best captures that fleeting miracle—the instant when light becomes the true subject. Light does not merely illuminate the scene; it defines it. Warm tones glow in the foreground where grass and earth hold the sun, while cooler blues and silvers recede into the distance, carrying the eye deep into the forest. The balance is delicate, assured, and deeply observed. The bush was Kevin’s sanctuary. He loved its honesty, its challenge, and its capacity for quiet drama. Here, the drama is subtle: the calm of a still morning, the soft backlighting that turns ordinary trees into towering sentinels, the gentle contrast between shadow and glow. Nothing is forced. Everything feels exactly as it should be, as if the land itself has arranged the composition. It invites the viewer to step inside—to feel the cool air on the skin, to smell damp earth and eucalyptus oil, to hear only the low movement of cattle and the faint creak of saddle leather. This is not spectacle; it is intimacy with the land. His knowledge of the rugged Australian bush is evident in every detail, but it is his love for it that lingers longest. This painting is a tribute to a moment of peace and to an artist who understood that light, once seen truly, is never forgotten.
Kevin was born in January 1932 at Hamilton, NSW, a suburb of Newcastle and died in 2012.
Original painting by Kevin Best.
In stock
