Blog

Yep, I have been a slack blogger. No real reason, just  a bad case of lethargy. Coming right though, thanks to a local Naturopath who has me drinking carrot and pineapple juice, and sipping Dandelion tea. Anyhow…

Mum and I are heading to Wellington tomorrow, ready for the opening of the Reflections of Italy exhibition at the NZ Academy of Fine Arts on Monday night. I am so looking forward to catching up with some of the artists I travelled to Italy with last year. Excited!

Those who read my blog from time to time will know that I am endlessly fascinated by the moon. The full moon makes me restless and sleepless, but also enervated and ready to paint at the same time. Did you know we’re at 4% of full, on a waning moon at the moment? I follow the moon’s waxing and waning each day, and watch the night sky for interesting variations. Although of course, for me, they’re all interesting…

Once I have some photos I like I play with them in Photoshop. My husband, Tony, can’t quite see the point no matter how much I wave my hands at him as I try to explain 😉  For me the endless crops, adjustments and colour combinations reinforce the colours I like – or don’t – and the constant looking at the image of the moon make my brain familiar with the shape so when I come to paint it my brain and hand know the end result I’m after. Picturing the moon is as familiar as doing up my shoe laces or driving a car.

I have a couple of friends who question my need to keep picking at one or two themes, such as the moon, poppies, the freezing works. I don’t bother defending myself; what I choose to paint is up to me and me alone. But I will say this – did Van Gogh paint too many sunflowers, or Jasper John’s create too many flag images? Thought not! There could never be enough works by Emily Kngwarreye for my liking either. Don’t know her work? Try Google images – amazing. I’m not deliberately trying to create a style that is recognizable in the way that galleries sometimes suggest. Art is a pleasure for me, not a career path. I am simply doing what is in my heart and in my soul; I am following what drives me. I’ll keep photographing the moon and playing with the images until it doesn’t grab my heart anymore – in the meantime, here are some of my latest images.

Over the last week or so I have been working on six paintings for the Reflections of Italy exhibition in Wellington next month. My initial trial piece wasn’t right, and it took a good friend to point out that it didn’t reflect me as an artist. I was trying to hard to make something that would sell. Onto a new trial piece, which sold overnight – just to reinforce the message (thanks to the Universe for the lesson). So I grabbed a couple of buckets of water, my six full size sheets of watercolour paper and got messy. Green paint everywhere! I splashed and washed and dripped my way to six backgrounds then left them to thoroughly dry. Not easy in this damp weather. Once they’d sat for a couple of days I stencilled on my poppy outlines and sat quietly filling them in. I love the feel of stenciled flowers; there’s a crispness and uniformity to them that pleases me.

Once the main flower colour — red, red, and red — was dry it was time for some details, like the wee black dots that say “poppy”, and checking that I had enough splashes of dark in the background. I have two of the pieces on my study wall at the moment so I see them all the time. If nothing strikes me in the next day or two I’ll declare them done. The other four can stay out in my art room for now. Next on my agenda is booking the accommodation so Mum and I can spend a couple of days in Wellington and go to the opening. Hopefully, I’ll also be able to help hang the works. Still not entirely sure how to hang mine, mind you…I think the answer might be tiny stainless steel dressmaking pins. It will depend, in part anyway, on what the walls in the exhibition are made of.

A couple of posts back, I was having real trouble with some works I’m doing for the “Reflections of Italy” exhibition in Wellington in May. Yes, that’s right, it’s only a few short weeks away and I have nothing to go in it – yet.  A good friend contacted me by email and said – you’re trying to do things that are too touristy. They don’t reflect you’re passion and they don’t show you, the artist. I had a good look and she was right. Funny that! I was thinking too much about being marketable and so on, and not enough about what I care about – my passion for process and throwing paint around.

Yesterday and today I have spent hours in my art studio and I have a lot to show for it. There is green paint, in various shades, on watercolour paper, in my hair, on the floor, my desk and some (thankfully well wrapped) new canvases. I haven’t checked the cat or dog, but you never know…

I have completed a 56x75cm, trial piece which I am happy with and have done all the background work for 6 pieces the same size. I’ve also made a stencil for the large poppies that will be in each piece. I love the uniformity that a stencil gives, tying th works together when the backgrounds are so random and abstract. Below is the trial piece, and a close up of some of the detail that forms the background.

So, two happy days in the studio. Thank goodness for honest friends who know me well 🙂

This month’s Crusade over at the GPP Street Team site is ‘in case of emergency’. Michelle Ward encourages this month’s Crusades to talk about ” The people who are important in your life.  The ones who should be notified In Case Of Emergency.  Think about who is on your Go-To list.  Who do you connect with on a daily basis or who is the first to get a call when you have news to share?  We all have special people in our lives.  Some we depend on for love and support, others we rely on for friendship..”

I can do that. There are 5 key people I have talked about, and two who would not be pleased if I did so publicly, so I left them off. Oh, and yes, I do refer to my dog on this journal page as my daughter. Faith is the baby I never had, to replace the many babies who died long, long before I could ever hold them in my arms.

I have shown the page with the tags in place, and without, for clarity. Thanks for another month of inspiration Michelle – You Rock!