Well, I am a bulldogs fan only in so far as I have jumped on the proverbial bandwagon. I suppose it is a bit of relief when your own team bombs out way before there is even a slight chance of making it.

One gets the chance to regroup and take on whoever it is that might seem like a good proposition.

I was curious to see how the Bye week would play out; would interest wane amongst the fans; would the players be affected. In Melbourne there was plenty of speculation in the lead up to the footy free weekend. A lot of it was negative...and, at a gut level, yes I would agree "A bye before the finals, how could you?'

I didn't go to any of the finals games. The closest I got was to the city and the area around Birrarung Marr on the Friday night that the Bulldogs played the Hawks in the semi final on the 16th of September.

The atmosphere in Melbourne on that night was amazing. With so many going to the game, and taking the long walk from Flinders Street Station there was a never ending stream of fans strutting the promenade.

A constant sea of red, white and blue mingled with a bit of brown and gold. The Scrays were perky, ambitious and on the cusp of daring to dream.

It was a balmy night and I found a spot down just beyond Federation square where I did a couple of ink and watercolour drawings on paper.

The distance in being a bit further away was ideal. The actual stadium fell further into darkening background. It was replaced with a cityscape of lamp poles, the lit spire of the arts centre and a variety of of buildings from the Eureka tower on the south bank to the old Herald Sun on the North side of the Yarra.

From these sketches, I was able to work up some more work. Acrylic on canvas paper as the one to the right shows.

The atmosphere in melbourne during grand final week was intoxicating. I always like the anticipation that leads up to the final game, but this year was taken to another level with the Western Bulldogs having reached this grand occaision.

I was met with many fans saying that even if they don't win that the fact they were in a grand final is ok. Such a momentous time for a team with only one premiership cup in the trophy cabinet.

One Trophy September 2016 — One Trophy
September 2016

There are more works in this series, in fact I'm still work ing on some now...four weeks later. I'll post some more when I feel I might be finished with the theme.