LIGHTNING

Storm Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm 2012

 

JOURNEY THROUGH THE COSMOS

 

Before I ramble on about lightning I will fill you in on some recent exciting events I have been to and thoroughly enjoyed. They are part of Journey Through The Cosmos a fabulous series of concerts and presentations 6-9 November here in Brisbane at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre [QPAC]. I bought my package of tickets a year ago!

 

What is Journey Through The Cosmos? It's a collaboration of science and art/music hosted by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra [QSO]. So, you ask, where's the science? Through the Queensland Government's Super Stars Fund Journey Through The Cosmos features famous physicist Prof Brian Cox. During the concert on Thursday night he gave short and fascinating insights into our solar system. The accompanying music included a new piece Voyager, a violin concerto, which was specially commissioned. The 'Super Star' composer Dario Marianelli was inspired by the spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2 and their journeys through, and beyond, the solar system. And, the 'Super Star' violinist was Jack Leibeck...fantastic. Jack also played a number of pieces at Einstein's Universe which was a fabulous presentation by another physicist Prof Brian Foster from Oxford University. This is a 'gig' Jack and the Professor have previously given in other parts of the world. You can read about it on their website Einstein's Universe

 

There are still a couple of events to go. So I shall write about the whole series in my next post.

 

AND......I met Brian Cox!

 

 

LIGHTNING

 

PLANETS

There's lightning on other planets, but not all in our solar system. The planets we are sure about, apart from Earth, are Jupiter and Saturn, plus Venus. But, lightning on Venus is the most different, because it is not related to water clouds, but rather...clouds of sulphuric acid. Brian Cox, when he talked about Venus during the QSO's performance of Gustav Holtz's The Planet Suites at the Journey Through The Cosmos concert, described it as hellish. He said it did not live up to the name of Venus, normally associated with love and beauty. Just imagine what lighting generated from clouds of sulphuric acid might be like?  

 

 

Cosmic Address Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm 2013
Note the lightning bottom left!

 

 

SYMBOL

Lightning, as a symbol, is normally associated with power and might. Mythological deities who wielded bolts of lightning held enormous prestige and engendered great fear.

 

STORM SEASON

And, in Queensland we are entering Summer storm season. Mother Nature often produces spectacular shows of lightning streaking across night skies, momentarily lighting up landscape or cityscape in majestic silhouette. These storms can be really wild, noisy and not necessarily very wet! These types of storms can be very dangerous, because lightning can spark fires in dry bush and grasslands.

 

 

Night Time Electric Storm [Across The Flat Plain] Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm 2012

 

 

A STORY

And, now to a story. A week ago my 20 year old daughter went to Goondiwindi by bus. It's a five hour journey from Brisbane and she went armed with various devices to keep her occupied...oh and a book! But, after she arrived in Goondiwindi she made a few comments to me that made my heart sing. As night settled the bus was travelling through bush and the sky was dark with storm clouds. The roads are long and fairly straight, and on a bus passengers are quite high off the ground, thus allowing for a more panoramic view. So what did my daughter say?

 

My daughter said, 'Mum, I decided to just look out the windows.' 

My heart starts to flutter!
 

And then she said, 'I watched the lighting. It was so beautiful.'

 

And then she said. 'I looked around at the other passengers and they all had earphones in, and were looking at phones or their computers or iPads. Mum, they missed out on so much!'

 

Yes....I jumped up and down with excitement, with my heart singing.  

 

Regular readers will know why my heart sang....I have previously written about the literal and metaphoric importance of looking out the window. Yes, if life is largely experienced and observed via phone, computer and tv screens what happens to 'experience' if the power goes off ?

 

In my previous post called Looking Out The Windows I wrote:

I tell my children that people have to be careful not to abdicate their brains to technology because come the apocalypse [natural disaster, space debris hitting an important satellite or whatever] when GPS systems, computers etc etc stop working, people won't have the practical skills to survive...OR... even think to simply look out the windows, literally and metaphorically! I get told...Mum you're so weird...!

 

BUT, weird Mum or not, my daughter looked out the windows of the bus!!!!

...and saw beauty!

 

 

Stormy Weather - Where? Oil on linen 120 x 150 cm 2013

 

AND JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED MY EXCITING NEWS

PANDORA WEB ARCHIVE  AND MY BLOGI received an official request from the State Library of Queensland to allow PANDORA [Australia's web archive - National Library of Australia and partners] to archive my Blog...

 

YES this one you are reading now! 

 

PANDORA is an official site for archiving 'online publications and websites of lasting significance' and 'research value' in perpetuity. Check out the State Library of Queensland's selection criteria page and you will see why I am really so very happy that my eight year old Blog has been acknowledged this way. 

 

PLUS

 

OOO SYMPOSIUM 

 

 

 

 

My proposal for a paper/presentation was accepted and I am one of the speakers at:

Seeing Things: OOO Symposium For Creative Researchers

 

Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Queensland, Australia.

Thursday 20 November 8.30am  - 4.30 am

 

My topic is:

Cosmic Perspectives

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

SUN IS SHINING

Storm Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm

 

Queensland has been under seige over the last week.  Cyclone Oswald turned into a massive, prolonged and destructive weather system that has caused vast ares of flooding and continued flooding. Some communities are experiencing their second or third flood event in 2-2.5 years. After days of grey clouds, rain dumps and wild winds the sun is shining here in Brisbane today. The Brisbane River is flooding, but nowhere as badly as early 2011.

 

The destruction of property and loss of life are dreadful. For those who have been pounded for the second or third time, their spirits are understandable very low. Recovery, of all kinds, takes a long time and a heavy toll.

 

The dreadful flooding is ocurring at the same time as wild bush fires continue to play havoc in southern states. Australia is certainly a land of extremes.

 

 

COSMOLOGY UPDATE

 

Doors open tomorrow Wednesday 30 January 11 am

 

For all the details please check out my COSMOLOGY webpage by clicking HERE

 

Also if you have not read my short story:

 

A Not So Impossible Dream:

A short story about Earth and the Universe

Please click HERE

 

AND

 

To read the terrific article

 

Cosmology – Art as a Conduit between Science and Humanity

 

in

The Culture Concept Circle online publication

Please click HERE

 

 

I am working on a new painting. Here's a detail of the work in progress. I have ideas floating through my head...and a title will bubble up I am sure. But, until then it is not titled.

 

Detail: Untitled painting oil on linen work in progress Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

STORMY WEATHER: WHERE?

 Stormy Weather: Where? Oil on linen 120 x 150 cm 2013

Recently I have been painting lightning, storms, rain...the weather. But, is it Earth's weather or is it from somewhere else? My answer; up to you! Is it literal or metaphoric weather...or both? My answer is both. 'Storms' brew within us, deep inside our emotions, our psyches. Sometimes they are small skirmishes, sometimes they are wild and apocalyptic. Storms, whether literal or not, urge...beg...for change to happen.

Here in Brisbane, late last year, we experienced some wild storms, showcasing nature's elements of wind, rain, lightning, dark clouds, hail and more. I painted a couple of paintings inspired by these stormy experiences which also triggered memories of storms across the flat black soil plain of my childhood home. Please check out STORM and NIGHT TIME ELECTRIC STORM

In more recent weeks Australia has been burning. Bush fires dot the country, threatening homes, businesses, livestock, natural flora and fauna and more. There are many reports of ferocious flames licking skies and fire fronts bellowed by hot winds. Many farmers lament the difficulties in gaining licenses to back burn abundant, but dried off, fuel across bush and grass lands. Back burning during cooler months, particularly after good wet seasons which produce glorious growth, is something farmers have historically undertaken with care. The Aborigines also back/controlled burned for eons. Check out this article and this article  as introductions to the burn off debate.

The drastic and sad thing is....a number of the recent fires have been ignited by lighting strikes. During wild and windy, but rain-less storms, lightning can easily ignite dried off vegetation and bush detritus. The ensuing change is dramatic and fierce.

STORMY WEATHER: WHERE?
I put the WHERE? in the title to provoke questions. Some may ask, 'Is the storm in Queensland?' or 'Is it a storm out west? Others may ask, 'Kathryn, what planet are you on with this one?' Yet, how many would ask questions about the psyche? What emotional 'storms' affect you as an individual? What 'storms' affect humanity as a whole? Paradigm shifting...maybe?!

I suggest that all these questions [and more] and their many answers, mediate assumed notions of what 'landscape' really is. Please check out my previous post WHEN IT RAINED ON MARS?  and UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE: REVOLUTIONARY?

In a recent conversation my brother Wilfred Brimblecombe  also suggested to me that the human body, from cells to organs, is a mass of ongoing 'storms'...impulses, surges, energy bursts, thumping and pumping...even while we sleep. Indeed, the 'cosmos' within propels us in life, in a dance with the cosmos beyond. Please check out previous post BODY AS SITE

In STORMY WEATHER: WHERE? a flash of lighting lights up a dark and turbulent night sky. The lightning strikes the ground emitting a red potency through the 'landscape'. In the distance, on the right, a strip of rain falls. This rain is red, like blood...like fire...life giving and renewing. On the left a small red tree rises from the potent vein. Regular readers will identify the tree as my much loved age-old trans-cultural/religious tree-of-life. For me this symbol 'speaks' of all life throughout all history...and that includes pre and post human history...beyond humanity's collective egocentric reach.

In the aftermath of fire, rain falls, small seedlings emerge...life.

COSMOLOGY

@ Purgatory Artspace

Exhibition 30 January - 16 February

I have created a COSMOLOGY page: It has all the details and more images 

Please check it out HERE 

My paintings for COSMOLOGY left this morning. They are on their way to Melbourne. 

Packed paintings for COSMOLOGY ready to go to Melbourne

SUMMER IN BRISBANE 

For readers who have never been to Brisbane I found this BLOG which features a post 'Sub Tropical Summer' of photographs showcasing our glorious colour, vegetation, skies and more.  

TASMANIAN HOLIDAY ANYONE?

Friends of mine own and run Bicheno By The Bay holiday resort. Bicheno was very close to the devastating fires that blazed through Tasmania last week. Thankfully the small seaside town avoided the firestorm. If you want a lovely, low key, natural, relaxed holiday think of Bicheno By The Bay. I plan to get down there sometime this summer or next. One of my children has been there twice and loves it. Below is a photo of the resort taken from the air. Looks great don't you think!!!!

Cheers,

Kathryn

STORM

Storm Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm

 

If you read my last post Back On Earth you will see from this new painting Storm that I have stayed on Earth...well maybe! Storm, is a bit more ambiguous than another recent painting Night Time Electric Storm

 

Whilst Storm is inspired by memories of my childhood, growing up on my parent's grain farm on the flat treeless Pirrinuan Plain, between Dalby and Jimbour on Queensland's fertile Darling Downs, it also evokes a sense of other-worldness. And, this other-worldness could be in the depths of pre-human history, when wild and tempestuous elements collided to form what would become our home, Earth. It could also be in some far distant post-human future when wild and tempestuous elements collide to see the annihilation of what has been our home, Earth. Yet, Storm could be a landscape of a compeletely different planet! With robotic probes on Mars and exploratory craft swinging their way around the galaxy, it's fun to imagine all kinds of landscape! That's why I advocate un-tethering notions of landscape from being Earth-bound.

 

UNIVERSAL ENVIRONMENT

We live in an era where research has vastly stretched our understanding of both the quantum and cosmic worlds. Surely we can stretch our imaginations to 'landscapes' which suggest we have an appreciation of an environment that is universal. In my last post Back on Earth I have noted a couple of links to previous posts about untethering landscape.  I suggest that untethering landscape from Earth, provides the opportunity for new perspectives. One of these is to look back at Earth literally and metaphorically. In doing this I suggest it becomes clearly apparent that all humanity must be mindful of sustainable practices because we only have one real home....Earth.

 

LANDSCAPE AS METAPHOR

As I was painting Storm I was also thinking about landscape as metaphor. I have previously written about landscape, and its elements, as metaphors for the human psyche eg: mountains are a metaphor for overcoming adversity. Here are a few previous posts for you!  Mountains , The Moon , To Grok Landscape , Horizons 

 

So, if landscape and its elements can be metaphors for the psyche, what human conditions or states can a 'storm' be a metaphor for? I am sure you have lots of thoughts about this one! Firstly, I'd suggest that as a collective [ie: all humanity] the concept of  'storm' is immediately understandable. As I write this, it is the end of 2012 and the world is still affected by the Global Financial Crisis, a massive 'storm' severely compromising individual, national and global economic wealth and sustainability. Violence and civil unrest continues in various places around the world, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka etc. Environmental sustainability is on a tightrope. National domestic violence, where dreadful acts are perpetrated against fellow countrymen have erupted in the USA seeing very young children massacred at school. Let's not go on...its too awful. Yet, each one of these forces humanity [the collective] to reflect. But, reflection is not enough...where's the affective action that forces change at mass, collective levels?

 

The concept of 'storm' is also understandable from an individual point of view. Our inner lives are a constant 'play' between calm and stormy waters. Funny how water is a symbol of the subconscious!

 

I suspect, as in nature, the ebb and flow of calm and stormy waters, is an intrinsic part of being human. I also suspect that there may well be a spiral or evolutionary path shaping how we deal with 'stormy weather'. Maybe if we feel things are particularly stormy we know we are being challenged with a pivotal moment where affective action can make massive differences. Are we game to meet the challenge?

 

STORM

This takes me to my new painting. Yes, as I sit or stand in front of my easel in my studio...hang on there...my garage....I think about all sorts of things. I love what I do and I love where my thoughts take me.

 

The lightning lights up the stormy night sky garnering universal energy and dispersing it through the land. I love the way the lightning appears like the roots of a tree or an upside down tree...I also love the red network of tree-like branches pulsing energy through the land. Regular readers will know of my obsession, yes I admit it, with the age-old transcultural/religious tree of life symbol. Here it is again: that sense of energy, the pulse of life offering hope, yet challenging us to find a branch, or even a twig, to help us pass through the storm.

 

..................................................................................................................................................................

 

MY BROTHER'S BLOG

 

Please check out my brother, Wilfred Brimblecombe's, new BLOG Photography, Stories, Ephemera Future and Past. Lots of great photographs from his and my childhood farm environment and more. He is a camera enthusiast so writes about the tech stuff too. He works in the IT world which has included super computing, which I think is pretty impressive!

 

...................................................................................................................................................................

 

ANYWHERE THEATRE FESTIVAL

 

My other brother Douglas Brimblecombe is Chairman of Board for the Anywhere Theatre Festival,

which is about performance any place but a theatre. Great innovative concept, taking off here in Brisbane. Performances in back yards, trains, virtual, unused lots and more. They are asking for submissions NOW.

 

Here's a quote from the Anywhere Theatre Festival staff and baord page:

 

Paul Osuch is the Founder and Volunteer Artistic Director of Anywhere Theatre Festival Ltd, a festival for performance anywhere but a theatre. In two years, the festival has grown to be a major community based fringe festival with more performances than the major Brisbane Festival run by volunteers.

 

...................................................................................................................................................................

 

COSMOLOGY

My next solo exhibition

COSMOLOGY
AT PURGATORY ARTSPACE

Dates: Wednesday 30 January - Saturday 17 February
Opening Function: Saturday 9 February 2-4 pm: I will be there!
Address: 1st Floor 170 Abbotsford St, Nth Melbourne.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11am - 5pm
PH: 03 9329 1860
Purgatory Artspace is the project space attached to Gallery Smith.

I've made a 'Cosmology Gallery' on my website with some of the paintings that may be in COSMOLOGY

 

Cheers,

Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

NIGHT TIME ELECTRIC STORM

Night Time Electric Storm [Across The Flat Plain] Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm

 

 

In recent weeks wild electric storms have sparked their way across Queensland. A couple of weeks ago, around mid-day, I was caught in a wild storm as I was driving along the very busy Coronation Drive, here in Brisbane. I, and many other drivers, had to stop, turn on our warning lights and sit out the storm. We had to stop because the rain was so heavy there was no visibility. The wind played havoc with nearby trees and anything laying loose on the ground. Thankfully only small hail stones fell from the sky crashing harmlessly into my car. Much larger ones apparently pummelled properties, gardens and cars in neighbouring suburbs. I was lucky.

 

Again a couple of weeks ago I was caught in another storm, but managed to shelter under a service station's roof. This time it was dusk. As the night sky enveloped, lightning spectacularly lit up the sky. From my safe haven, I marvelled at nature's electric 'personality'. 

 

For readers from overseas, summer-time storms are common in Queensland and Australia. Often they do not produce much rain, but they certainly provide a spectacle and unfortunately they also often cause major damage. If there is rain, it can fall very heavily, causing flash flooding in both city and country.

 

These recent spectacular storms have reminded me of the storms I witnessesed and experienced as a child on my parent's farm on the flat treeless Pirrinuan Plain, betweeen Dalby and Jimbour, on Queensland's fertile Darling Downs. My childhood environ was often referred to 'God's own country' because the rich deep black soil could grow anything.

 

The flatness of the landscape, with its endless horizons [regular readers will know I have written about these before] provided a broad canvas for nature's displays. These included relentless blue skies with wisps of white clouds floating playfully, greenish coloured clouds menacingly promising hail and causing my Father distress about potential crop damage, and night time magic whispering from the twinkling Milky Way.  

 

Another night time sky was a totally black one. Totally black because storm clouds swamped the glitter of stars and suffocated moon shine. However, storms accompanied by electic lightning, provided a 'show' unlike any other. Flashes of stark white light seemingly from Heaven struck the ground with a shocking immediacy that both terrified and astonished. Momentary silhouettes of familiar landmarks and shapes transformed the landscape into a beautiful but almost night marish setting.

 

As a child, I was never really scared during these wild storms, yet I knew people [and animals] who were/are. Dogs particularly hate wild electric storms of lightening and thunder! I've owned a number of dogs who vigourously welcome being allowed inside during a storm.

 

Night Time Electric Storm [Across The Flat Plain] Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm

 

My new painting Night Time Electric Storm [Across The Flat Plain] is inspired by my childhood memories and recent storm events here in Brisbane. It is also triggered by photographs my brother Wilfred Brimblecombe has uploaded onto his new BLOG  particularly those he uploaded on posts dated December 1 and 2 [Pirrinuan Tornado]. These photographs are of our childhood landscape and they stir sentient memories of the open space and endless horizons, that embraced those who lived there in an ongoing performance, which demanded 'audience' participation. Without barriers, such as hills and mountains, bushland and forests the open space enveloped us.

There was and is no escape. No hiding.

 

In Night Time Electric Storm [Across The Flat Plain] I have painted a wild electric storm that lights up a night sky, revealing a silhouette of existence on a distant horizon. The silos on the right, a sign of human productivity, yet seemingly insignificant aganst electrically charged nature. Anyone who has exerienced nature's 'whiplash' through storm, hurricane, tornado, flood, fire, volcano, earth quake is humbled. The weaving red line, which I was compelled to paint, suggests potency, fertility, fury, passion. It tells us that underlying energy forces exist. It also draws us into the scene inviting us to be part of nature's passion.

 

I like the way the lightning appears like upside down trees...regular readers will know why. The age-old trancultural/religious tree-of-life symbol is a major visual guide in my work. The lightning seems to re-energise life at the same time as tantalisingly revealing life's core secrets [momentarily].

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com