SENDING LOVE

This painting 'Sending Love' will be in my exhibition Prayers For The Planet: We are all the same opening October 12 @ Doggett Street Gallery, Brisbane http://www.doggett.com.au/

It is self explanatory really. We can send love to anyone/anything anywhere at anytime. What it 'looks' like will be different for each person. When I imagine sending love I imagine a white light emanating to encompass the person, thing or even the Earth...and yes even the universe. I've painted this image as if the white light spills from the tree-of-life going forth to wherever the viewer thinks it might be going. The viewer can tell their own story.

I am very pleased with the interest in my exhibition. I will be interviewed on radio and there may even be a TV gig. And there will also be some mention in various other paper publications. Very exciting.

But, as I have previously explained I am donating 9% of sales proceeds to War Child Australia http://www.warchild.org.au/ I am delighted to be able to do this and hope that people who buy my work feel they are helping to contribute to an organisation devoted to assisting children affected by war. War Child currently has projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

I will not know until the end of the exhibition how much I can give War Child. But, in the last two blog entries I have described how money could help. And I am doing this again with this entry. Did you know:

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, around $3500 will build a kitchen at one of War Child’s drop in centres for street children.

In Afghanistan, around $3500 will fund the development of a year-long legal support programme for children in conflict with the law.


The money which will be given to War Child Australia will be sent with the scaffolding and warmth of love.

Sending Love Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

This gouache on paper painting will be in my next exhibition "Prayers For The Planet: We are all the same" which opens in only 3 weeks on October 12 @ Doggett Street Gallery, Brisbane.

Your invitation is @ http://www.doggett.com.au/Art.aspx?ExhibitionId=864&ArtId=18281

This painting is part of a set of 6 called Sending Love. The idea that love can be sent through the ether is appealing and powerful. There is also an idea that if more people think of or meditate on peace and love there will be an affect on those areas of the world affected by conflict. It is often frustrating to think that we are powerless in the face of brutality and war. What can we, the average everyday person, do to make a difference? Very few of us have the skills to be placed in war situtations to save thousands.

The prospect that meditation and prayer can make a difference empowers people.

As I have mentioned before I will be donating 9% of exhibition sales to War Child Australia www.warchild.org.au With the help of people who buy my work I am hoping that my donations will assist in bringing some experience of peace and love to children affected by war.

Even small amounts of money [a practical way to send love] can make a difference.

Did you know that children as young as seven were abducted from their families and turned into soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Brutalised by war, they were abandoned to live rough on mean streets. But now, with help, they can be clothed, rehabilitated and re-united with their families (a time and patience-consuming process, ultimately worthwhile). $120 helps reunite one former child soldier with his or her family.

JOYFUL PRAISE

The last week has been busy. And I had my birthday! As my middle daughter said, 'Mum, 21 is so young.'

As mentioned in my last post I was one of the 70 shortlisted artists for the Tattersall's Club $20,000 Landscape Award. I did not win but there's always next time! However, I think my painting looked great at the exhibition in the Club.

There is a chance for the public to see all the paintings as they have been moved from the Club to Waterfront Place in Brisbane. They will be there for two weeks from Monday 17 September. Or you can view them [plus what seems an expanded list of paintings] @ http://www.tattersallsclub.com/art-prize.html

Also, my exhibition at Doggett Street Gallery is just around the corner opening October 12. Your invitation is @ http://www.doggett.com.au/Art.aspx?ExhibitionId=864&ArtId=18281

As I have mentioned before I will be donating %9 of sales proceeds from my exhibition to War Child Australia www.warchild.org.au Here's an example of what can be done with, what to us is a small amount of money. Did you know that $40 will cover the costs of kindergarten for one child for two weeks in Herat, Western Afghanistan where around 60 children live in prison with their mothers? War Child collects these children in a mini-bus and takes them to kindergarten where they have the chance to play and socialise with their peers, receive a hot meal and have their clothes washed. I have other examples which I will write about over the next few weeks. I really hope that as I sell my paintings those people who buy them feel excited about what they are helping to provide.

The painting above will be in the exhibition. Joyful Praise gouache on paper 53 x 62 cm framed.

Inside The Vastness Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm This is my entry for the Tattersall's Club Landscape Art Award for which I have been preselected. I will be at the Tattersall's Club on Wednesday night for the opening of the exhibition and the announcement of the award.

Inside the Vastness explores the minutae of our vast landscape. It is also a metaphor for our inner world of the human psyche.

My next exhibition 'Prayers For The Planet: We are all the same' opens on October 12. Put the date in your diaries. The exhibition goes until November 3. More about the exhibition in the next few weeks and about the charity I have teamed with...War Child Australia www.warchild.org

I have chosen to upload this painting called Golden Lives because I painted it well over ten years ago and it reminds me that the tree-of-life motif has been evident in my work for some time. This is a mixed media work on paper and represents energy and life. Ten years ago, I don't think I even realised the possibilites of the tree and the life it would take on in my work.
Upon reflection I see a very gradual development in my work creating a thread which I hope and believe will be seen as having integrity, deep thought and being antcipatory.

The tree grows above and below the ground. It is inside and out. Maybe there is a promise that we as humans can go inside to grow. Inside is where our emotions and our subconscious lie. It is a place where love hopefully lives brightly. If is doesn't then maybe our world in which terrorism and war live is revealing what is inside us [or some of us]? I perceive a movement of conscious thought and prayer gathering strength around the world eg: www.millionmeditations.org The energy created by mass thoughts of love and peace coming from inside us will manifest the same on the outside...we can live with hope and that is empowering.