March 2009
Well realizing I haven't updated the Blog for some time! Apologies!
I have been painting a lot, and have produced a large painting "Grand Canyon to Evans Lookout" below.
Being such a large canvas 40 x 40 inches, this took me a long time and many late nights to finish.
I was thinking about why I'm painting like this, and what is inspiring me, and why I am using this style, as opposed to traditional more popular styles of painting.
Essentially what am I trying to create here???
I think I am aiming for a memory image, it is not "realistic" in the way other artists can paint a beautiful image of a valley or cliffs, and have it look exactly like you are there at sunset. But for me I am aiming to create the memory of the place, what stuck most in my mind, what created the greatest impression for me.
As you may be able to tell I have fallen in love with the tall straight (well mostly straight) "ghost" gums, or white gum trees that grow prolifically in our area of the Blue Mountains.
There is something about them that I find so unique and satisfying to look at that I could stare all day long.
Anyway, I digress, the only current reason I can give at the moment for my desire to create the basic forms of "Pochoir" (- which means stencil) painting, is my need to do so.
An unexplained type of explanation.
At my age (on the slow incline to 40), I firmly believe that if you NEED to do something, then you have no other option but to do it. If you don't really NEED to do it, if it's only a passing fancy, or fabled fantasy, don't bother, because your time is better spent doing what you really NEED to do with the rest of your life.
It's kind of the midlife crisis stuff, but without the mid life, the crisis, and the Ferrari, it a realization of what brings great pleasure through time and hard work, and that pursuing your own joy is acceptable, and can still be combined with normal life without having to become a hermit.
I am not a prolific painter, mainly because like most artists I have a day job, and the style of painting I have chosen, has time consuming layers, which cannot be skipped if I am to achieve a completed image that I am satisfied with.
Oh well, that should do for now, I hope you've enjoyed my rabbiting on about this stuff.
Have fun with your NEEDS, and I hope you find them just as satisfying as I find mine.
Driving for a Landscape.
I didn't hold a lot of confidence that I would be able to finish the painting for the exhibition. As per usual, I'd left everything till the last weekend before the "SpectaulArt" exhibition to finish the work.
(SpectaulArt Starts: Friday, 10th Oct Finishes: Sunday, 12th Oct at the Mountains Heritage Hotel Katoomba)
With some basic explanation, I do have some reasonable distractions.
Will our 18 month old, who rules the roost.
Hubby gone off to his conferences (great big beer session with mates).
And keeping up with the demands of my day job 4 days a week.
Which makes me think that it's quite reasonable to be leaving it all till the last weekend, in fact, it's completely understandable!
Will and I headed out to Dubbo, if you don't know where that is Type Dubbo NSW into google maps, we traveled from Katoomba to Dubbo on the Highway. For us it's a 4 hour trip if you include stops for sanity.
The drive out is scenic, rolling hills, past streams, dams and beautiful canola fields. The canola fields at this time are a stunning bright yellow, and they cover gently sloping hills and wind around the trunks of gum trees.
A great inspiration for some painting. And a joy to see.
Although many parts of our state are still in drought, it was wonderful to see that some rains have fallen, and that the dams have risen. The fields are greener than I can remember them in years of traveling out west.
What a pleasure!
We happily stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's farm. Will got himself happily acquainted with the chooks (Chickens - hens), and some gumnuts too!
Over the long weekend that we were away, I painted, and painted, and painted......
And I finally finished the painting, with the aid of wine, of course!!!!!
Welcoming Landscape 1, in a series of 3, hand painted Pochoir Prints, the other two I am planning to be quite different. And I made it to the exhibition on time!!! Hurrah!!!
