Most of Obie's early works have been sold without him ever taking photographs to remember them by. His early materials of choice were pencil on paper and household and enamel paint on masonite. When working as a miner in Dampier, Western Australia in the late 1970s he would use anything he could get his hands on such as old metal sign posts when materials were in short supply. Most of his early works consist of small stickmen with large colourful heads marching across numerous hills . He experimented with marbling affects and used pens to scratch into the surface of the drying paint for texture. Some of his paintings were hung in miner's quarters along side the usual centrefolds, a contrast to be sure.