I’ve visited Victoria for fifty years: as a child, a student, a lover, a mother, a runner, for my second marriage, and a teacher. Each time I go, I feel transported out of my day to day into a magical place. I can’t put my finger on it…is it the lights, the ocean views, the old houses, the parks, the kitsch? This painting is inspired by an early winter morning walk along Dallas Road, colours glowing like gems along a white picket fence enclosing shrubs shaped like friendly trolls, with gems of light across the dark harbour. Magic.