Checkerboard Opal

Boissevain Art Verified independent store

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Medium: Mixed media / resinSize: 1400 x 1400mmWhen I was just in my early twenties, I met an old opal miner while scratching around in the mullock heaps of discarded opals, in Quil pie, SW Queensland. We were chatting about the lifestyle there and of course opals, when he casually pulled out a piece of opal from his pocket.It was like nothing I had ever seen before, or since.. “Checkerboard Opal,” he called it, and he said it was priceless, not for sale. Even now, many years later, that image has seared itself into my mind. The artwork I present to you is an attempt to capture the magic of that moment, and relay to you in full the sheer incredible beauty of that spectacular piece of opal. To this day I wonder where that piece of opal is. Show more