This is a painting I have just finished. It's been wonderful to be working large again and has allowed for a different pace and breath. I haven't worked to this size for a long time and I'm excited about taking it further and the themes which could develop.
It's been a huge month requiring the kind of resources I have to mine for. We have had a great time at Canberra Handmade and can't wait to return this year! It's a beautifully organised affair and we loved being a part. We also just finished our first Bowerbird market in Adelaide which also lived up to it's wonderful reputation, we were very well received and had a great time! We were in this weekends 'The Market' with the lovely Holly and Shannon and I had a great time seeing some very special people and catching up on all the exciting things our fellow artisans have been up to! We are then off to Melbourne for 'Markit' and are really looking forward to returning to our old stomping ground! On top of all this we are off to Floriade this year, Canberra's flower show for a month and Melbourne's Big Design Market in December.
We have had a somber time with our son not being in perfect health and with many specialist appointments that require the sort if thick skin that isn't conducive to painting.. Beautiful people have come into our lives and nurtured and supported us. I have really loved seeing how much our dear friends, and people who have become dear friends, can share and connect with us. It's not something I expected to find so profoundly. To all the wonderful people who have really been there for us, and to those who know what we are going through, I cannot thank you enough. I am one of those people who easily looses themselves to another's difficulties... I am doing my next painting about this; losing oneself in someone else, which is set in a theatre. It's all wet and oily at the moment but should be finished next week! I am loving the connection between painting and life I now have which I never thought possible. I started painting again three years ago, even though we didn't have the time, it was a folly, when I created a picture that said what I wanted to say It was sort of just for me. I was so surprised when people understood my paintings too! To be now painting everyday and going on life's journey with the ability to immerse myself in it, not analyse or critique, but feel, through painting, is the most incredible space. I love to share my stories with all the different people I meet every market we do and through every painting I paint. This is my latest story::
'By Boat'
Life's big changes; sometimes life happens to you, big things come along and sweep you. A small decision or an event becomes a slow long space that is felt and has great meaning. The brother and sister are returning to themselves and are making their way through their own journey, but leave much behind. What they leave behind isn't even known or understood; a language, a humour, a land, a people, a deep connection and understanding. They aren't making choices; the sea take them in a breath and the sky guides it. It is open and light and expansive offering neither coldness or warmth. They are part of a process that isn't there own but takes them in their rigidity, their need to cling to what they know, but is far away, and what is before them is only imagined. The tree isn't real but somewhere new that recognises them and is waiting for them. This painting is about the past and the future with an in-between present.
