Frank Burgers, a resident of 16 years and painter for 30, quickly found his passion as a colourist was challenged by the location of his one-month experience at Kings Bridge Cottage in Launceston.

Surrounded by gaunt dolerite cliffs and murky olive water, Burgers went back to basics by finding a new appreciation for the oil paints he used to interpret the landscape.

Burgers said the cottage’s location 70 kilometres up an estuary was an interesting spot.

“One of the things I became interested in on the site was how three metres worth of structural material ... was hidden by the water and revealed slowly through the day,” he said.

“The rocks in the gorge had an interesting way of fissuring, very strong diagonal lines,” he said. “Chunks that fell out in one particular place left a very strong impression of a human face.”

Burgers said his focus soon became fixed on the shapes in the cliffs near the water.

To accentuate the form and colours, he said he started to paint the rocks rising from a flat surface.

“In some ways it became a metaphor for Tasmania itself, an independent little island,” he said.

Return by Fire opens on Saturday and an artist floor talk and drawing workshop will be held on March 12.