Invitation to the Studio Show 2011

I am mounting this show to present several works both recent and past. Some smaller works which are fresh and poignant. My white cat seems to have become an incidental muse on this quiet journey that I am currently undertaking. Lots of boats, red of course on a vast blue ocean which suggest a feeling of being adrift, searching for connections.

Invite to Studio Show

White Cat in a Midnight Garden

Adrift

Sweet Hearted Chook

Comfort

Invitation to the Studio Show 2011

It's all happening folks, the tension mounts and the expectation can be felt in the air. Meanwhile I am finishing off some smaller works which I am really enjoying. There are a couple of bigger works that I am procrastinating about finishing which is a pain. Invites have been sent out but I really need you people who are thinking about coming to let me know so I can get excited too. Never much of a show when only I turn up coz, well I've seen it all before so won't be able to engage in any revelationary conversation.  As this show is part of the BATS (Boroondara Artists Travelling Show) there will be five other venues that can be visited on Sat 8 Oct so lots to see and do. Need a poster and an invite.. Look no further than below.

The Struggle to Make Sense of it All

Well I'm not doing too well at making sense of it all this past few weeks. Hence the dearth of blogging, talking, diary entries, the whole shebang really. Pity really coz sometimes I think I've managed to get it to a point where I'm going to take off, jettison into a different kind of stratosphere, as far as thought process, opportunities and generally a different scene when one wakes up in the morning is concerned, and then flat liner.... Its the eternal sameness, relentless going round in tiny circles that's so frustrating. So it comes down to creating one's own reality, and as I paint my realities into existence it seems fairly obvious that I have to shift the content of my study, the approach to the work. Therein lies the catch 22, because my work reflects me at any one stage, so for the work to shift I've had to shift, but if I can't manage to get my perception to change then everything stays as it is and I go no where. I take full responsibility although I do crave the odd helping hand. Lethargy, ennui, the spiral of pointlessness. Does one scratch up the disappointments or only acknowledge the successes. Doesn't the effort of putting ones self out into the world determine a positive acknowledgment, or is it only valid after another opens the gate and lets you through that particular door which you summoned the courage to knock on.

Waiting for Seamail

The Anonymous Astrologer

Well folks, it's another chilly day in Wintery Melbourne. But there is just next to me 'The Anonymous Astrologer', recently painted and so fresh, one is in danger of having red paint leap onto any decent piece of clothing. It has a quiet contemplative feel about it. I believe the source of this imagery is two fold. I recently saw a magnificent, dark and brooding painting by Molly Pwerle and I was struck by her colours in this work. It made me connect to a part of myself I hadn't in a long while. I wanted to explore these feelings, these dark. stellar places. Meanwhile I have been watching a program by Stephen Hawking about deep space, infinity, black holes, the unimaginable space that we float within. So here I have it. It's different but I am enjoying its contemplative state. The ladder has appeared again, a recurring theme it seems. The frailty of the ladder, its simple geometry yet it so efficiently elevates one to places one cannot normally reach. The simplification of the head, the flatness of it yet graphically conveys humanity.

Flood Journey

Earlier this year my country up north was swamped by a torrential downpour. It was quite devastating. I painted this work to continue the  conversation I started with 'A Single Life' and then 'Journey To'. The story is about moving forward, from the past to a new future, possibility and potential. In this work, 'Flood Journey' i was inspired by the way people, strangers and neighbours can to the assistance of those who were suffering from the effects of the flooding around them. Another metaphor I suppose about support and that by taking a chance and risking something, there is a boat, a vessel that will take you to dry land.

 Flood Journey

The use of line

I attended a meeting the other evening around the topic Art and Politics.

There'll always be bigger fish to fry

I thought this meant, if something you wanted or desired doesn't come to pass, then one has to wait for the next thing. Might not mean this after all, but if sentences that actually bear no direct connection to an 'idea' can mean one thing, then maybe it can mean something entirely different too. Who decides what something means? So Idioms aside, here is my latest artwork. I quite like this one. It's bold, strong forms and colours and has alot of movement. The folded person, expresses a moment of disappointment, the loss of something desired. But behind is a smaller fish, he has managed to gain something. It belongs to him/her as it stays confined. He sits on an outcrop, perilous and irregular in shape. Nothing is straightforward. The fish is jubilant that he gets to live another day, a tear of gratitude falls from his open eye. He breathes a sigh of relief and moves towards the light.

Clearing the Mind

It's a rainy day on Melbourne today... looks like I woke up in some northern winter outpost in Scandinavia. But on the bright side, I feel that the painting, 'Clearing the Mind' is complete. It is still quite confronting by its starkness but the colours are very warm and the head is serene. The ladder which comprises of green marks/dots suggest the transitory nature of the character that serves you when you are letting go. If it had been solid the concept of imagination would have been cancelled. The shadow/man is so light it doesn't require a solid form to ascend. The blue form on the side is a container for the head, but is reflective and supportive. Having the edges of his universe in such bold, warm, hues of reds, pinks and yellows evokes energy and revitalization. The glow in his head where the shadow has polished and cleared away the accumulated rubbish has a red bucket dangling from the ladder to hold the residue.

Works can be viewed at Without Pier

I am delighted to say that some of my works are to be shown at the Without Pier Gallery, in Cheltenham, Melbourne. I am sure this is the start of a really good year and many other opportunities to show.

Blog uncovered after given up for dead

The blog has been uncovered after two years lost in the gmail - google internet scramble of lost passwords, mislaid scraps of vital data that would identify me as the rightful owner. I am very pleased. It is pretty weird when a part of your personal self is washing up on some distant shore and you cannot locate it and bring it back on board and revive it with all the stuff that you've been up to for all this time. So hang on to your hat folks, its going be a busy, frantic and wildly exciting few weeks of catch up. I have so many great photos that I have taken on my travels. I see below we have some taken in Broome and wow! I have been to America and Europe and Alice Springs since then.. Great having a place to show them off. Even if it is to my own wee self. I will comment don't you worry...
So welcome back and here's to the renaissance of following a journey of Art, photographs and musings...