I was just about to load up a new image when my trusty, old computer died. This happened on Sunday. So, I took my computer to the fixit place hoping that it was going to be a simple diagnosis. But, NOOOOO!
I have ordered a new computer...thus I am anxious. Thankfully my hard drive is ok and all my stuff can be transferred to the new computer. But, I will have to learn how to negotiate my way around new software...my old computer's operating system was XP and a lot has happened since then. Hopefully I will be up and running...and in love...with my new computer by tomorrow afternoon...well in love by Sunday when I will have sussed out everything. My Dad is a HAM Radio man and I grew up with the latest of technology...I think that's why I am not too overawed by the latest and greatest of tech developments. However, as a result of genetics I am quite techno intuitive, so will enjoy putting my IT hat on for a few days. One of my brothers is in supercomputing...now that's impressive!
So for regular readers of my BLOG there is a hiatus where there are no images of paintings. My daughter's computer, which I am using now, does not have an image programme that reduces file size...so no images of the new painting I finished on Sunday. I don't upload 300 dpi images of art to protect from copying.
INTERESTING CSG LINKS
But, this hiatus gives me an opportunity to provide some interesting links. One is an article written by a lawyer [with a PhD] about the consultative process here in Australia...and probably similarly overseas re: Coal Seam Gas. It is a very probing article which clearly illustrates the need for a more representative consultative process with a fundamental decision making basis in science. His statements about cumulative problems, plus an inference about how to represent future generations are insightful. http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/queensland/resolving-the-csg-crisis-through-proper-public-participation/
The next article is written by a biochemist Dr. Gideon Polya. It is scientific rebuttal of the assumption that gas is cleaner and greener than other fossil fuels...yes gas is a fossil fuel. This article is a MUST read as it is not long and can be easily understood by the layman. Polya's description of the potential future is awful and is a reminder that today we must find ways to represent future generations.
http://www.gabpg.org.au/httpwww-openforum-com-aucontentgas-can-be-dirtier-coal-government-ngos-falsely-assert-gas-clean-energy
I did upload an image of myself conducting a workshop on Saturday, but it did not upload properly. So, no photos today.
Maybe you'd like to check out my 'Water and Gas Gallery' on my website...link below.
Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
GAS GALLERY
Commodified Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm
I am back in my studio working on an oil painting. But, it will be awhile before it is finished. I am working towards my exhibition Paradise @ Purgatory Artspace in Melbourne 8 Sept- 8 October. Stay tuned for updates as time goes by.
Regular readers will know of my concerns about the impacts of the burgeoning Coal Seam Gas industry [plus open cut coal mining] here in Australia and elsewhere around the world. In the last couple of months public awareness of, and concern about, the industry has increased. So much so, that the media, politicians and the industry itself are beginning to realise public concern is not coming from only the fringes.
Yesterday a gas well at Daandine, near Dalby where I grew up, blew. Here are two articles about the event.
Events such as these [and this is the 4th leakage, blowout on this property] highlight the risks of this industry, not only to safety, but to the environment; to water, soil and ultimately food production and sustainability. As I have written before, applying the % risk that business is used to, is not the % risk science would apply to activities with potential impacts on the balance of nature eg: the intricate and complex system that is the Great Artesian Basin. [Please see my painting Risk below]
I decided to create a 'Gas Gallery' with a small selection of my paintings that have been 'inspired' by my deep concerns. As I have written before this is my 'quiet activist' work. In most of the paintings I use small $ signs to create the image details ie: soil, water, sky etc. The smallness of the $ signs means viewers do not discern them from a distance, but as the viewer moves closer the $ signs become apparent. I am 'asking' the question, "Have you noticed what's happening?'
Cooked With Gas Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm
Underground Currency [Great Artesian Basin] Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm
$oils Ain't $oils Anymore Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm
Detail $oils Ain't $oils Anymore
Salt Eternal Gouache on paper
Can We Eat Coal For Breakfast? Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm
GAB: Great Artesian Basin Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm
Risk Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm
Earth For Sale Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm
Lifeblood Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm
Well, it is back to the studio for me. But, before I go, I am very happy to report that 2 of my 3 paintings in the Women's legal Service Qld Exhibition sold on the opening night, plus the painting that was included in the Auction.
Cheers for now,
Kathryn
Sunday, May 15, 2011
TRUTH, TREES
Seeing The Truth Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm
On Thursday I had a really wonderful day. I met up with a friend who I have known since the early 1980s, but whilst we now both live in Brisbane, we very rarely see each other. My friend's name is Heather Price. We first met each other in Goondiwindi when Heather and her then-husband, and I and my then-husband, learnt to play Bridge! Heather and I were both involved in many of the art activities Goondiwindi offered.
On Thursday Heather and I went for a very special walk in the bush at the foothills of Mt. Cootha, just here in Brisbane...yes, we have the bush in ready access to the metropolis! We connected with the natural environment around us and at one point had a discussion about something we each identified in the other...and that is... an ability to see the vast and the intimate, simultaneously. We discussed that perhaps we had developed this ability to 'see' this way, and to also conceptualise it, because our childhoods, and much of adult lives, had been spent in the vast expanse of the Australian rural landscape. I grew up on the flat treeless plain of Pirrunuan, just outside Dalby, on the Darling Downs, in Queensland. Heather grew up in the flat expanses of the land around Moree, in north western New South Wales.
Regular readers of this BLOG will know how excited I felt when Heather and I recognised that each had this innate sense, as I have written about close and far distance, the macro and micro and multiple perspectives before. But, what is it about living in a vast landscape that entices somone to 'see' life and the world around, and within, in ways that are provoked by space and distance...and ultimately time? Both, Heather and I, have absorbed our experiences with distance, in ways which inform our personal and professional lives...me as an artist and Heather as a Creative Counsellor and Healer [and much much more!].
Heather's and my familial heritages are also similar.We both come from a long ancestry of farmers or people who worked on the land and /or sea. We wondered if our innate sense to 'see' the vast and intimate simultaneously, is not just about us, but also about those who came before us. Regular readers of this BLOG will know what I would say...yes, my ancestry will have influenced my powers of observation of and within vastness. Also, as a woman, I resonate with all the other women who lived my ancestry, who lived in remote landscapes, raised families, and tended to community and cultural development in their locales.
There is something about seemingly endless space, that compels you to notice, and take comfort in, the minutiae-the cracks in the dry earth, whispery tuffs of clouds, insects, and so on...but there is more... it's as if the vastness cannot hide its energy.
Before I go on, I know that by now you'll be intrigued by Heather's story. So, here's her website. Enjoy!
THE PAINTINGS
To unravel some of my thoughts about multiple perspectives and distance, I will 'talk' about the three new paintings I have uploaded. At the bottom of this BLOG post I will list other posts where I also 'talk' about perspective, distance, the vast and intimate.
The painting above 'Seeing The Truth' is one of my ambiguous landscapes, created with my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life motif. For me, and I suspect also for Heather, seeing the landscape is not just about what we literally see. In this painting I have tried to reveal the energy that exists above and below the earth/land. In a way this is like a cross section of sky and land, revealing intimacies within the vastness of both. The tree pulses with a vascular like energy in the sky as well as below the earth, yet the two energies are connected, like roots are to a tree. In an age where we plunder the resources inside the earth, I think we forget that, whilst unseen, it is still an integral part of our landscape. What happens underneath affects what happens above. Just because we cannot literally see it, does not mean we can forget about it. Really 'seeing' means we need to use our imaginatons, to use our mind's eye, to 'see' those forces which propel not just our earthly existence, but also the one we share with the Universe...or Multiverse.
Cooked With Gas Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm
Regular readers will recognise that this next painting 'Cooked With Gas' is one of my 'quiet activist' paintings. Yes, it is a comment on the Coal Seam Gas [CSG] industry, which potentially threatens the quality of underground and above ground water supplies, soil and air quality and rural social fabric, not only in Australia but elsewhere in the world. Yes, I have written about this before, but, today I am writing from the perspective of vastness and intimacy.
This painting was inspired by an aerial photo of CSG activity near Chinchilla, which is a bit further west from Dalby, where I grew up. The photo showed the chaotic spider web like patterning of gas wells and access roads to each well, that criss cross the landscape.
I have painted the roads with small red $ signs and the well sites with yellow $ signs. The $ signs question how we 'value' our land and resources. The fact that the viewer cannot readily discern the $ signs until up close, 'asks' the question ,' Have you noticed?' The movement of the viewer from far-to close-to far distance is a 'dance' which I like to provoke. It replicates the same 'dance' that I enjoy as I move back and forth from a painting examining it from close and far distance, making decisions of aesthetics and meaning. As I have written before, this back and forth 'dance' may be one we all need to learn, in order to live sustainably and compassionately, in this increasingly globalised world in which we live locally.
Whilst 'Cooked With Gas' can be viewed as an expanse of vastness seen from the air, it could also be a cross section of a coal seam, revealing the fissures created by fracking ie: the blasting process used to crack the coal in the seam to release the methane gas to be collected, along with water 'byproduct'. So, under the earth, in the quiet intimacy of ancient depths, man induced changes will not go un-noticed! In the first painting 'Seeing The Truth' the tree-of-life which forms the earth, is painted in red to stress its vascular life nurturing nature. In 'Cooked With Gas' red $ signs reduces the 'bood' of the earth by limiting its 'value' to one dimension.
I Am A Tree Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm
This next painting 'I Am A Tree' places the female figure at the centre. She is the site of all growth. She is the land, the sea, the sky. She is connected to everything, the Universe or Multiverse. She folds duality so that it is no longer recognisable as such. She embraces the vastness with intimate strokes of love and compassion. She is the horizon, as well as being that which exists beyond it...and this horizon may be within us. She is the landscape in its universal entirity, as well as its co-existing metaphor, the landscape of soul.
She is me, she is you, she is the feminine power that exists within us all...male and female.
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/09/cosmic-dust.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/beginning-of-everything.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/08/dance-with-distance.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/oils-aint-oilsany-more.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/notions-of-perspective.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/07/in-my-last-blog-i-wrote-about-my-guest.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/09/flying.html
Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com
Monday, May 09, 2011
JUST A FEW THINGS
Flow Gouache on paper 21 x 30 cm
I have not picked up a paint brush since my exhibition in February. I am getting a bit frustrated, as I have a few ideas purculating around in my head! However, I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. It has not been a too dark tunnel though! I have been working on my picture book, which will be published this year. The manuscript is nearly ready to send. I wrote about the book in http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/04/let-go.html Below is one of the 30 paintings that will be in my picture book.
Let Them Fly Gouache on paper 37.6 x 28 cm
FLICKR
I have uploaded two short videos of me talking about some of the paintings in my February exhibition VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core. Here are the links:
WLSQ Art Exhibition
The painting below is one of the three I have in the Women's Legal Service Qld Art Exhibition opening Friday May 20, 6 pm till late at the Riversie Centre, Brisbane. I have another painting in the auction.
See my last post for other details:
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/05/sending-love-and-heart.html
The Brush Of Angels' Wings oil on linen 50 x 92 cm
ACT FOR KIDS EXHIBITION
The three paintings below are in the ACT FOR KIDS exhibition opening this coming Friday 13th May, 6-9 pm at White Canvas Gallery, 26 Church St, Fortitude Vallery, Brisbane. The exhibition dates are: 12-24 May. Please read my previous post where I write about the fourth painting in the exhibition. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/05/sending-love-and-heart.html
For more information:
Collective Memory Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm
Portal Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm
Cheers,
Kathryn
Monday, May 02, 2011
SENDING LOVE and HEART
I am a single parent...a single mother...and have been for 11 years. My children were 8, 5 and 2, eleven years ago. I cannot remember much of the first 5 to 6 years of our new life in Brisbane. It was just so, so frantic.
My children are older now, and don't need the kind of supervision and attention small children demand. However, my housekeeping standards have not returned to those I held dear in 1999. I let go of a huge amount of pride in housekeeping between 2000-2006 and I now don't really notice unmade beds, piles of ironing, crumbs on the kitchen bench! Though, I do have a hissy fit if the kitchen rubbish bins get so full that the rubbish starts filling the airspace above ie: they're doomed to collapse [can't the kids see that????]!
Being the single parent, who has the children most of the time, is incredibly demanding. But, it is also very rewarding to witness and be part of their lives...and also to have others comment on how grounded, gorgeous and mature they are...that makes my heart sing!
As an artist, I work at home and this has been fantastic, because I have been available for my children. I am at home when they get home from school, I can pick them up from school or from whatever sport and other extra-curricular activities they undertake. I have been able to collect them when I've been called by the school to say they are sick. I have attended a range of sports carnivals, music recitals and so on. One of my children was very sporty at primary school and was a champion at a variety of sports....so I trod the well worn track to a number of school, district and regional titles...I think we made it to a couple of State ones too. My attendance was enthusiatically welcomed when the children were primary school age, before they started thinking I was totally embarrassing...yep teenager time! 'Mum, why can't you dress like the other Mums?'...well.... if your Mum is an artist....!
But, this all sounds very much like many Mums and Dads. The only thing is...when you do it on your own, day in and day out, it is exhausting. There are other elements which people may not think about...like...when either of my eldest children had early morning [ie: 6.30 am] sports training, I had to wake the youngest to take her too. I could not leave her at home alone. Her teachers often commented on how tired she seemed some days.
So, I think you will understand my willingness to be involved in two curated fundraising exhibitions to be held in Brisbane. They are::
- The Women's Legal Service Qld From the Heart exhibition http://www.wlsq.org.au/index.html Opening Friday 20 May 6 pm till late. All the details, exhibiting artists etc are on the website.
- The ACT FOR Kids exhibition. http://www.whitecanvas.tv/gallery/images/stories/exhibitions/docs/ACT_for_Kids_Invite.jpg Opening Friday 13 May
In both cases the artwork is selected by a curator, and then hung be the curator.
This painting above, serendipitously titled 'From The Heart' is one of ten paintings being auctioned at the Women's Legal Service 'From The Heart' exhibition. The curator has selected another 3 of my paintings for the general exhibition. If you are interested in bidding please make contact with the WLSQ. This is my short artist's statement for 'From The Heart':
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 from my heart to encompass the person, thing or the Earth...and yes even the universe. In this painting the tree-of-life cascades as white light to encompass great distances.
The painting above 'Sending Love' will be in the ACT for Kids exhibition, along with 3 other of my paintings.
The statement above, for the painting From The Heart is certainly exemplified in this painting as well. I chose to enter it for selection to the ACT for Kids exhibition, because I feel it embodies the sentiments and emotions people feel when confronted with the sad stories, lived daily by abused children.
Here are the websites again:
This post is a departure from my posts and paintings about water and coal seam gas! But, hey I'm sending everyone LOVE!
Cheers,
Kathryn
http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/
Here are the websites again:
- http://www.wlsq.org.au/index.html
- http://www.whitecanvas.tv/gallery/images/stories/exhibitions/docs/ACT_for_Kids_Invite.jpg
This post is a departure from my posts and paintings about water and coal seam gas! But, hey I'm sending everyone LOVE!
Cheers,
Kathryn
http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/
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