INTO THE SYMPHONY

A few things are about to happen. On Saturday 6 Sept I am one of the presenters @ 'Creative Conservation 3 peaceful space sound, space & environment: An Intercultural Dialogue' at the University of Queensland www.ecco.org.au/cc3/ On Sept 12 I am the guest speaker at Brisbane Boys' school Iona College's Gala Arts night. I have no association with the school, so I am delighted to have been asked to speak about art and education. And, on Sept 10 the announcement of the $20.000 Tattersall's Landscape Art Award is made at a swish 'do' at the Tattersall's Club .

This painting above is new. I wanted to create a work which caught enormity and intimacy simultaneously. I wanted to suggest that outside and inside could be seen together and that the viewer could experience both. My thoughts are a continuation of my intrigue with the space/distance between the macro and micro/global and local and the compassionate potential which I feel exists within this space/distance. The perspectives from outer and inner are different, but in our world today we need to be able to step away from our comfort zones putting ourselves in another's shoes. In this way a compassionate space opens as we view others differently as well ourselves. Th eindividual is not lost in this process, yet the collective can be embraced.

I am also thinking about the capacity of the Soul. I 'see' it as something which is both vast and beyond being seen ie: so small that it collides with enormity at the extremities. The Soul seems beyond being described as having a capacity yet it 'holds' so much. I 'see' it as a living entity attached to us, yet capable of detaching when death arrives. By detaching it avoids time, that vastness which human beings try to understand on a daily basis. The idea of the 'beyond' is something which has sparked my imagination since I was a very small child. Beyond vastness and beyond the minutae are the places of extremes yet the distance may well be both close and far.

So, all of this and more is in this painting 'Into the Symphony'. I use the word symphony because it describes my thoughts of capturing 'everything' but in a way that dances, sings...and seems right somehow.

PS. I am having a small exhibition at Maleny's very 'hip and happening' Upfront Club http://www.upfrontclub.org/upfront/ The show opens on thursday October 23 and continues until November 18. Maleny is a gorgeous hilltop town behind Queensland's Sunshine Coast. The people are an eclectic mix of interesting characters making up a community which is vibrant, creative and interested. My parents live there and I love the fact that there is an opportunity to exhibit my work in Maleny. Check the Upfront Club's website out...they have music gigs too...and great food...and lots more.

Into The Symphony Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2008