Before his early death, Arthur Shilling completed the manuscript for The Ojibway Dream, published posthumously in 1986. In it, he described a breakthrough in his painting: colour no longer needed to sit inside outlines, because form and light could emerge directly from the colour itself. That idea, to our eye, is fully at work here.

Here, Shilling sets the two children high against the horizon, leaving the field to occupy nearly the entire canvas. Their faces and clothing are carefully described, but below them the grasses dissolve into broad strokes, scratches and flashes of unexpected colour. Ochres, browns and golds establish the field, while touches of violet, green, blue and red prevent it from becoming a single mass. Shilling varies the density and direction of his marks to suggest weeds, stems and uneven ground without describing each plant. The pale, rapidly brushed sky opens the composition above, while the children’s white and blue clothing gives the eye two strong points of focus within the surrounding autumnal colours.