"The composition of the painting presents itself as initially symmetrical with two main coloured fields, one black (left) and one grey (right), divided by a dotted line with in its middle a black and red circle...Paddy Bedford often revisits the same country in his paintings. This is the case for Mud Springs (Yuwangeny in Gija), an important Dreaming site on Bedford Downs that forms the subject of this painting...The central circle in the picture depicts the permanent waterhole in which the rainbow snake lives...While the central circle seemingly dictates the focus and locus of the picture, the red expanse takes on equal importance...the dramatic developments of the story are translated onto the canvas through the relations between the different components of the composition."
— Dr. Georges Petitjean, 2002