In 2012 Jackson wrote about ‘the gift of Widdin Weddin’:

I was 30 when Elisabeth Cummings in conversation described to me the idea of a small group of artists building their individual studios on 10 acres of bushland given to them by Barb and Nick Romalis.

It was perfect timing for me as I was then living in a top floor factory space in Chippendale, Sydney just off Broadway and was ready to move out of the city. I also knew Wedderburn and had met Barb and Nick years earlier at one of their Jazz and Pig Roast nights.

Widdin Weddin, Wedderburn has now been my home and studio for the past 38 years and my life and work are enmeshed in this place.

Even though I have travelled much and painted many works overseas I have always returned to my studio here in this particular landscape, I know it very well. I know the feel of each day when I wake up and go outside and smell the morning air. I am overwhelmingly part of these trees, this gully, the day and night sky and animals and birdlife that also live here. Much life and love have I lived and shared here.

My painting has been most effected by living in this environment. The studio opens onto it and I look at it every day. If someone asks me what has influenced me most in my work I simply point to the landscape of this place. It is really absurd how a moment of fate turns into destiny, human connections and ideas turn into a life lived.

So it has been for me through the wonderful generosity of Barb and Nick and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. The spark of an idea to give a few artists a place in the bush to build studios and live and work without the pressure of rent or mortgage has become this place Widdin Weddin, where those artists have lived and worked all these years turning that spark into a bright flame.