Sunday at Munget

We had grand plans for the day. We were going to build a structure around the outside shower, and this involved alot of bush clearing, wire construction, cement mixing etc but we woke up this morning absolutely bust. I had no energy so returned to the bed after lunch and slept and read and slept and the fan blew its cool breeze over me and the frogs belched out to their friends and the afternoon passed as if in a dream. We wait for rain, we all wait for the rain, the relief, the life and the wet will be a welcome feeling. I walked around the property this morning with pen and paper, drawing a road map so I could find my bearings. Just paths in the bush, cant see where you are can be disorientating, especailly as the likely hood of meeting a snake, being eaten alive from march flies or perishing from thirst are all real possibilities..i have a map now and it all makes sense. The camel Woogai is the key. Lovely night, full moon and it fills the sky and sits pregnant and luminous over the sea. Every where is visual drama.

Arriving in Munget

Our journey to Munget took about four hours. The landscape changed as we drove through red sand and green bush, native fruit trees and a blue blue sky. The it was through sand, white and surrounded by lush mangrove. We stopped in at Beagle Bay Community for a visit there. Met some lovely folk and had a really good chat. We visited a church, brilliant white as a reminiscent of a Greek village on a rugged coast. Quite a startling contrast to the surrounding dwellings that were greenish grey corrugated iron sitting close the ground, silent and closed as all the locals hide during the heat of the day.

The onto Munget and a welcome ending and the beginning of a new chapter. A bush camp for sure.

Journey into the interior

Arrived in Broome Western Australia on the morning of jan 5 2009. Its the start of a new year and a new journey, to a new place, an unseen place yet i have been longing to see this part of the world for a very long time. I stayed in Broome for a couple of days, so I got to have a look around. Lunch was superb at the Mastos Restaurant, coffee was a relief in the cool airconditioned interior of Blooms. I met a few people, and the sun did shine. The sounds of frogs, crickets and cheep of fevered insects. Louise and i went investigating the ruinous debarcle that the gas hub development is precipitating. The construction brings immediate desolation, erosion and environmnetal degredation as the nature of the pindam(the red earth particular to this part of the world) is overlooked or disregarded. And everywhere it is red.
The sea is a brushed turquoise, i haven't felt it yet but it is in occassional view everywhere, it too surrounded by red sand. Late morning Wednesday we piled the car with our belongings and headed north to Munget, 175 kms away.

The Prayer

I know its been a while. Sometime has past, I think it must be that the idea of regular bloggin is in its infancy. But, heres to the reaching out to the new. This work came from a place of deep confusion and feeling lost. Where was I going with all of this? The questions I was asking needed to go outside of myself and hope they could be heard by a wiser soul. The answer came as the painting grew. The character is asking, hands together, please help me here, I need to know my path. The being/face behind is sublime and all knowing and the connection is made as the bird, the soul sings aloud and with joy to the world. So resolution was found within the work itself. Process made real. This is where the true meaning of painting exists for me. From heart and desire for resolution, a new image is born.
Painted April 2007.

The Crossroad

This will be about the stories behind the paintings. Maybe the stories are triggers for the images, maybe they spark deas for stories after they are created. These are the reflections of my inner self, I am just the interpretor.

This painting, called "At a Crossroad" was painted after I returned from a trip to Paris. I live in Melbourne. My studio is above a Cafe, called Boheme Cafe. Before the chance to go travelling, I was feeling a little Lost, as in where was I going with myself, my art, my ideas. There was the chance to visit Paris for two weeks, so there I went.
I walked everywhere, for hours till my feet ached. But, what a joy, what an adventure to roam the streets, to visit the galleries, to sit and sip strong coffee in cafes surrounded by the buzz of this beautiful city.

So here was a painting I created after my return. The painting tries to straddle time and experience. From prior to leaving and then the return. Behind the head is the past, a time of confusion and no direction. The face looks outwards, to the future with hope and a little trepidation. This is the nature of embarking on a journey. The moment of decision is the crossroad. Taking off, crossing the boundary and leaving the earth or what is familiar and trusting the unknown. The future suddenly takes a turn, this is where my ordinary day ended and this is where my extraordinary day might begin. Colours are the notes that convey the "sound" of a painting. Much can be read into the placement of colour, the decsion to choose one colour instead of another. Red, White and Blue, remind me that it was to Paris I had gone. But within each colour another story evolves. The black stripes in the red are steps to the possibility of future achievements. Rungs in a ladder. Within the blue, is that water, or maybe air, marks and scratches comment on the physical world.

Deciding to do this Blog, is one such Crossroad. This is why I have chosen to begin with this painting. I look forward to your musings as I begin to articulate in words what previously I used in images.

Ciao,
Saren