Some photos...Wallace Gallery 22 Oct-18 November

Distant

Ochre

Clarity

Inheritance 3

Convergent

Rock and tree

Caramel

Across

Balance

Burnoff

Exhibition

So, 6 months (or more) of planning and painting culminate in tonights preview of my exhibition "Under Big Skies", with my mate and totally nutcase, Charlotte Giblin.We are also joined by sculptor and fellow immigrant, Anneke Bester. Her collection of bronze sculptures is called "balance" and watching them being unpacked this morning was a real treat. She also packed chocolates in amongst all the works to make the job fun! Cool chick!

The exhibition runs for a month .

I am very happy with the paintings and I can see where I am going. Looking at the paintings painted 6 months ago is interesting, but the recent ones are even more interesting because I can see how I used what I was learning along the way in the later paintings.

No, I am not going to say which are which!

I will post photos tomorrow. Right now, I want to have a glass of bubbly and practise walking in heels (not a great combination!).

Cheers!

Podium position

I won a prize! Well, that's a lie, I came third but I feel like I won! I entered a small exhibition  called " Arts for Health" . It is run by a local mental health charity, Arts for Health,Community Trust who run art programmes and offer creativity as a recuperation service. The exhibition is held at David Lloyd Gallery and I exhibit there , so I wanted to support the cause and help attract viewers to the charity.

I took some friends with me .We had attended the opening of a creative collective called Story earlier that evening and were moving on to the exhibition. I had forgotten about the competitive element to it and was just trying to whizz round and see all the works before I dashed off to watch my youngest play his first basketball game.Ever.Someone rang a fork on a glass and the chatter settled . I was actually on my way out the door when an efficient gentleman shepherded me back in.

Third prize and praise from the judges! I struggle with spotlight attention . My vision goes blurry and I seem to get blinkered, sound goes fuzzy and all I can feel is panic.I hope I was gracious, but I think I was surprised enough that I had not time to freak out.

I went to watch the basketball game and sat next to one of my 10 year old sons friend, Max. I could not contain my excitement. " Hey, Max" I shouted in his ear (noisy basketball court). "I won a prize for my painting"
Big grin from him" I thought you won prizes all the time!Right on!"
Coolest kid in the world.

So, as my father says, onwards and upwards.

Perspective
30 x 30 cm
oil on canvas
$250

The winner was John Tilling with his intricate Ink on paper work titled "Mass produced art".It was a deserved winner.
Ps. Exhibition is open sat 18-sunday19 Oct 10 am till 4 pm, 78 lake Crescent, Hamilton, David Lloyd Gallery.

Instagram

I recently joined Instagram.

For those of you who have not had the introduction, here are two versions.

1.Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them on a variety of social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.(as described by wikipedia)

2.Instagram is a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends and family. Take a picture or video, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram — it's that easy. You can even share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and more.(as described by Instagram, themselves)

Basically, for a person who likes looking at pictures, it's picture heaven.

I am addicted. I post, I look at others posts, I connect with others who like the same thing as I do or stretch me and show me things I did not know about and now I love. I have been introduced to new artists, new online friends and new worlds. Voyeurism at it's legitimate best.

It's quick, it's almost constant and it feeds that part of my ADHD brain that wants novelty and variety, hence it is slightly addictive. I am guilty of over participating in posting but the instant feed back about some of my work is very valuable. Feedback from people who do not know me personally and therefore offer honest critiques are invaluable. I like that. It's scary and that's good for me.

Then there's the hashtag issue #

Hashtags (#) are used so that people interested in the same thing can receive your images via recommendations(should you turn that facility on). If I post a painting, the proper way to hashtag is #landscapepaint# oilpainting   ..that kind of thing. Not me. I hashtag #ishouldbemakingdinner or #toomuchturpsmakesmehallucinate. Hardly correct, but more honest and fun.#iamanidiot

So, if you want less talk and more photos, follow me on instagram.

This is an instagram photo of the beehives at the apple orchard. About to spring into blossom, the bees have some work to do #showmethehoney.

Pull up a chair.

I have recently had to give a few interviews and write a few profiles about myself for my increased exposure into the world of art. The questions have been similar: Have you always painted?What is your training? Did you paint and a child? When did you know you were a painter?   All these questions are really about the origin of self belief and identifying myself as a painter. When did you become a painter?

I knew in the moment I thought I was going to die. 

2008, Waikato Hospital.I had an illness that was proving difficult to diagnose, hence treat. Lying in a darkened room, machines beeping at me, medical staff hovering around me and my roaring temperature, infection taking over my systems, my head exploding , my heartbeat becoming more and more erratic, hallucinations becoming more and more frightening. In that moment,  I knew. 

I knew I was sad to leave my young children motherless, my husband a widower, my parents daughterless. But I was furious with myself. Incandescent with rage. I remember wailing and the nurse trying to calm me down, comfort me. I bellowed at her " I forgot to paint. I was supposed to paint". 

I laugh about it now, but at that moment, the idea that I had missed what I felt I was supposed to have done with my life , was beyond comprehension. Had I been so scared of failing at painting that I had not even tried? Better to not experience failure than to try? I was mad with myself. I remember shouting and (oh, that poor nurse) crying at the lost opportunity. I was bereft.

Sedation worked, I slept till the morning and was woken with the same nurse, face beaming. A diagnosis of my mysterious illness had been made and it was curable. I would survive. I lay there, frail and weak but my relief was immense. And I had a plan, a purpose.

It took me months to recover, both mentally and physically. I started painting. I devoured information about painting, painters, art. I painted and painted. I grew my family and painted and painted. I grew my spirit and painted and painted. I just did it. Because every time I painted a totally crap painting, it was still 100% better than not painting at all. And when I painted something that I felt was a sign of improvement and progression, my heart and soul swelled and I became the bravest person I knew. I was painting. 

Why do I paint? I paint because I just have to. I see the world totally differently to the way I saw it before my illness. I still fear failure, but then, don't we all? When I feel that fear ,I invite it into the studio, pull up a chair for it, park it and tell it to watch.I sometimes offer it a comfy pillow! And then I paint and , trust me, that seat is empty by the time I finish that painting.

Painting has become something profound to me. I don't paint pictures of places. I paint connection, affirmation, memory, emotion, recollection, faith, love and hope. It's all in the paintings.They are invitations to share.  I share them with you. 

Ps. The illness was Murine Typhus. I was the only person diagnosed and treated  with it in New Zealand for 2008. Go figure.

Community involvement

I feel very grateful for the life and the opportunities I have had to do ,really, just about anything I wanted. Sometimes I have squandered that opportunity but now I am utilising it.To be allowed to paint daily is a great joy and to call it a job sounds ridiculous, but it is and I am lucky, lucky,lucky .....and grateful.

So, I like to share . Yesterday I shared some of my expertise with the year 7 and 8's at Ngahinpouri country school.  When I pitched up ( they know me there! My sons are at the school. Nuff said), the class was excited about doing art  but I was struck by how they all ( ALL) said they were excited but were not any good at art. You should see this classroom. The walls are adorned with art and yet they still feel they are not " good enough". Once upon a time I felt this way too. I understood so I had planned a lesson about colour. I wanted to teach them that art is not just about drawing but also the magic of colour.

I started simply. I asked them if the know how to make green. Yes, the chorussed, yellow and blue together make green. Yes, I agreed. Now lets make green . Armed only with coloured pencils they sceptically coloured in a patch of yellow, then covered it with blue. You could hear a pin drop.
Then it started..." Cool!Wow!'".....the cries of kids witnessing the magic of colours being made. We carried on to orange and purple......then tertiary colours...then we advanced to paint. Hands got involved, someone flicked someone else...so I had to haul them back and we made more magic. I showed them the warm colours, the cool colours, analogous colours, complimentary colours....I asked the red-head what her best colour to wear was (Blue!) and explained why, as a complimentary colour , it worked and complimented her gorgeous red hair. Ping. Penny dropped.
I explained how two primary colours together are great but a third added makes a muddy colour. They only got it when I described it as two's company, three's a crowd!

We made colour wheels, we painted, we used oil pastels, we swirled and mixed and, at the end, collaborated in putting it all together in a wonderful collage of colour.

In the evening, I did a similar thing with the adults of the community. We held a lovely craft and art evening in the school hall funded, in part, by a grant from the local council. Shani P showed how to sew beanies and fingerless gloves in gorgeous fabrics, I demonstrated colour theory and potato print / masking taped decor art, Joanne Bouma and Anne KingScott demonstrated folk art ( delicate and colourful, like on barges of old) and fabric textured art......it was such fun. Watching people achieve things they did not think possibly whilst enjoying themselves immensely is a reward all in itself. People walked out with artwork, gloves, beanies and a sense of renewed creativity.

I hope we can do this again . It felt good to share.

Friday sees the school exhibition with artwork from all the children displayed in the hall, along with local artists work. The opening is from 6 pm till 8 pm and will remain open the next day( during voting!), so the wider community can come see too.

On the subject of sharing, here's the flyer Charlotte designed for our upcoming exhibition in Morrinsville next month. Please feel free to share it!

A warm glow

Here is the progression of today's painting.

the rough wash

Just going for it

Building up shape and form with colour

Add caption

detail

detail

detail of foreground








It dries flat for a few days, then I will revisit it, make whatever adjustments fresh eyes see, and the photograph it properly.

I hope it leaves you with a warm glow.