$TORM

$torm Oil on linen 31 x 66 cm 2020

Like so many other people I have been keeping an eye on the news about COVID-19. The news ranges from the serious, sad, dire to hopeful - from medical research, hopes for a vaccine, to terrible deaths and seemingly miraculous recoveries, to limited PPE, isolation stories, increased surveillance and concerns if this becomes normalised, to economic strife and more.

Landscape as Metaphor

My newest painting $torm, like my recent painting On The Edge of Fury: A Landscape for Our Time [below] turns to landscape as a metaphoric way to analyse and visualise anxieties triggered by the current pandemic. In $torm I have painted a strip of red rain, falling out of, and into, a turbulent landscape. The angry red 'raindrops' are painted as small $ signs. You have to get up close to see the $ signs - this is deliberate.

How have quests for a exponential financial edges and growth, instead of simple financial exchange, predisposed the world to global pandemic? Let's think about  '$torm clouds' that have brewed for decades. 

• industrialised farming causing breakdowns in natural containment of rare microbes, 
• practices that cause pollution of our air, land and water, 
• culinary desires for exotic animals exacerbating the potential for animal to human contagion transfer, 
• nation-states fearful of losing face,

We are in the eye of the '$torm' now. How we navigate the tension between keeping people healthy/saving lives and economic considerations will define how we live with each other in post-pandemic decades. It seems some nations are handling the situation better then others.... 

Lives should always come first...

$torm

While On The Edge of Fury: A Landscape for Our Time features the flat western horizon of my childhood landscape, the landscape in $torm is inspired by the easterly horizon. In the west there was nothing, in the east the Bunya Mountain range cut a majestic silhouette against the sky. A sacred gathering place for Indigenous Australians over eons, the Bunya Mountains are never really at rest. As I went to school each day on the school bus I would gaze at the Bunya Mountains. On a hot summer's day shimmering mirages tried to obscure the mountains, but they fought back. During wild storms the mountains darkened, sentinels watching over the flat naturally treeless Pirrinuan and Jimbour Plains. As the Bunya Mountains changed colour during the course of a day, they seemed to tell stories. Maybe these stories were warnings? 

$torm, with its rolling colours and multiple contours, a night sky seemingly supporting the the whole painting, is perhaps, a warning?

On The Edge of Fury: A Landscape for Our Time  Oil on linen 30 x 40 cm 2020

$ Signs

I have previously used small $ signs to paint landscape elements. $urveillance [below] is from 2016. It 'speaks' to the military-industrial complex through a critique of surveillance, particularly undertaken by sky-based technologies, such as airborne drones and satellites. This painting intersects with $torm because there is increasing commentary on the potential future outcomes of normalising surveillance measures undertaken during the Covid-19 pandemic. A recent article 'Pandemic Drones': Useful for Enforcing Social Distancing, or for Creating a Police State by Dr. Michael Richardson [Uni of New South Wales, Australia] is an example of increasing concerns. 

 $urveillance  Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2016

A few other paintings where I use small $ signs include:

Risk  2010

Planet $  2011

Water Harvesting  2009

Cheers,

Kathryn

ON THE EDGE OF FURY: A LANDSCAPE FOR OUR TIME

On The Edge of Fury: A Landscape for Our Time Oil on linen 30 x 40 cm 2020

PROCESS

On The Edge of Fury: A Landscape for Our Time just happened! I am actually working on another painting Machine Unreadable, nearly completed. I started to prepare a new canvas so that it would be ready to work on next week. But, I could not stop - and - On The Edge of Fury: A Landscape for Our Time is the result. This type of thing happens reasonably often, especially when there is a lot to think about. And, at the moment, with COVID-19, there is a huge amount to think about - and worry about. This kind of rapid creation also happens when I've worked intensively for some time. It's like a release valve. I consider it a normal part of the creative process, a kind of waxing and waning of intensity. 

TURMOIL - VIRUS

I wanted to create an image of turmoil, to reflect the effects of a world changed by virus. As I was pushing the paint around with a brush, pouring paint from a container and tipping the stretcher up and down to make the paint drip and flow, I suddenly thought of my childhood landscape. I've written about this landscape before [please see images below for links]. I grew up on my parent's grain farm on the flat naturally treeless black-soil Pirrinuan Plain, outside Dalby, on the fertile Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. As we danced with endless horizons and relentless skies, distance consumed us. In stormy weather the sky seemed to overtake the landscape. With nothing to obstruct our view we could see where lightning struck the Earth, we could watch clouds rolling wildly and strips of rain pouring on parched soil many kilometers away. The unobstructed flat horizon and the unfolding distance revealed everything. 

HORIZONS

As I was playing with the paint, I suddenly painted a horizontal line across the painting. This is the flat horizon of my childhood, the marker of distance that made me who I am. The painting felt right, it spoke to me about how landscape informs us, if we a willing to watch, listen, smell and feel. With my painting, a tension between calmness and calamity offered a way to think about the effects of the virus. The flat foreground could, on the one hand, be a future of calm reflection about much needed societal change, but, on the other hand, it could also be the past. It's certainly not the present! The sky tumbles uncontrolled, maybe not only reflecting the present, but also a possible future. The flat horizon seems to suggest we have a choice about how this future might expand before us. 

The tension between land and sky is exposed in the nakedness of the flat landscape terrain - no hills, no trees, no houses. The storm, a metaphor, appears ominously ready to devour the calmness. Would this mean a future foreclosed? However, the storm is equally exposed, its fury obviously raw and hot. The flat exposed horizon demands attention, possibly offering hope as it holds the fury back, giving us some time. The horizon is a metaphor for the world to meet the fury of nature in honest and compassionate ways. Are we brave enough? I think we need to be.

Life depends on it.

Cheers,

Kahryn

*Below are some images of the Pirrinuan Plain, plus three other stormy paintings!

Me with my brothers Wilfred and Douglas, many years ago. The sky is stormy, although not wildly so. We had some very welcome rain.

 Me in 2015 on a trip back to Dalby and the Pirrinuan Plain. Note the flat horizon, and the rich black soil. Cotton, mainly dryland, is now farmed in the district. It was not a crop grown during my childhood. Back then it was mainly wheat, corn, sorghum.

A very old photo of the Pirrinuan Plain. Probably taken in the 1930s-1940s by my grandfather.

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

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

Storm Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm 2012

BEWARE THE SHADOW

Beware the Shadow Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm 2018

As a metaphor, the shadow represents the dark side. 

In my painting Beware the Shadow a shadow drone appears to be armed. The dark side, armed!  Does this mean that the shadow reveals the truth, that the white drone is weaponised with concealed technology that can target and kill? Does the shadow reveal a blindness to reality? In Beware the Shadow, the weapons are metaphors too.

If you stand back from your screen, this painting appears very 3D!

I have previously written about drone shadows, for example, Shadowy Drone Play and Drone Life Shadow Play

 Drone Life Shadow Play Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

Shadowy Drone Play Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

Cheers,

Kathryn

A CURIOUS JOURNEY - WITH PAINTINGS

Mountains and Metaphors oil on linen 80 x 200 cm 2005

   

   Queensland Landscape (Unreal) Oil on linen 50 x 90 cm 2017

In this post I have chosen four paintings I painted over a decade ago and four very recent paintings. I have coupled one older painting with one recent painting. These paintings resonate with each other, in uncanny ways, across the years. In fact, I found quite a few that did this, but four from 'then' and four from 'now' are enough. 

                              UNREAL LANDSCAPES - METAPHORS

So, above, I have posted Mountains and Metaphors and Queensland Landscape (Unreal). There are twelve years between them 2005 - 2017. And, I can tell you, I was not thinking about Mountains and Metaphors when I painted Queensland Landscape (Unreal). Yet, maybe at some subliminal level I was, because there are obvious visual connections. What I can tell you is that both paintings are inspired by the Bunya Mountains, part of the Great Dividing Range that winds up the East coast of Australia. The Bunya Mountains cut a majestic silhouette against the expansive rural Queensland skies of my childhood. I lived on a flat treeless plain where the mountains in the distant east beckoned with sculptural monumentality. The western horizon offered no such aesthetic - it was flat and endless, mirages often merging landscape and sky into one. 

Looking at these two paintings at the beginning of 2018 is an interesting experiment for me. Given that I referenced mountains as metaphors in the earlier painting, there is a kind of unreality attached to the image. This unreality is expounded in the later painting, where I question our experiences with landscape in a world mediated by technology. 

A mountain, when standing at its foothills, is a metaphor for something to overcome. However, when at the top of the mountain, it acts as something not only overcome, but revelatory. From the top you can look towards a new horizon, and back to an old one - horizon being a metaphor too! But, what happens when the mountains are simulations? 

BEING POST-HUMAN?

Braid Oil on board 90 x 60 cm 2007 

Imagining the Post-Human Gouache on paper 42 x 30 cm 2016

I don't paint many portraits, well not obvious ones. But Braid (above) is a self-portrait, not of my face, but of the back of my head, and my long plait. Oh, and my heart too! Just over ten years ago my hair was a lot browner than it is now! My long hair is one of my distinguishing physical characteristics - apart from being very tall. 

I was looking through my paintings and it struck me that my 2016 Post Human series of works on paper, feature a 'figure' with a heart, or a simulation of a heart. The binary code accompanying the figures suggests some kind of simulation, proxy, or downloaded data. 

Am I painting myself as a post-human, my hair standing on its ends in horror, or is it excitement? The code 00111111 'screams' a question mark loaded with many questions. Why? How? Am I ok? Am I lonely?

Below, I Am A Post-Human  seems to have an answer!

My Future Post-Human Gouache on paper 42 x 30 cm 2016

I Am A Post-Human Gouache on paper 42 x 30 cm 2016

01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110000 01101111 01110011 01110100 01101000 01110101 01101101 01100001 01101110 00101110

 SHARED SYMBOLS

 Forever Connected Oil on linen 120 x 80 cm 2008

Crossing the Rubicon Gouache on paper 76 x 56 cm 2017

Forever Connected and Crossing the Rubicon both feature a tree-of-life seemingly reaching to the heavens. The tree-of-life is an age old transcultural symbol. It is shared by the three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. In Forever Connected I wanted to demonstrate the power of symbols to draw people together - I certainly experienced this when I exhibited in Abu Dhabi in late 2005. The conversations I shared, on a daily basis, with people from all over the region were triggered by my paintings where the tree-of-life echoed across the ages. 

With Forever Connected I was also referencing the story of Moses and the burning bush - the bush on fire, but not consumed by it. This story is also shared by the three Abrahamic religions. 

Looking at Crossing the Rubicon and Forever Connected together, I see that fire also links them. This has come as a surprise observation. The fire in Crossing the Rubicon indicates the impossibility of turning back. I've written more about this in my post for Crossing the Rubicon. 

PULSE - BYPASS - LIFE SUPPORT?

Earth's Pulse Oil on linen 80 x 200 2005

Space Net Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2017

Earth's Pulse and Space Net , painted 12 years apart, aesthetically resonate. The Earth, indicated by the round shape in both paintings, hovers in a cosmic landscape. Various signals or vibrations transmit to and from Earth. In Earth's Pulse these 'transmissions' seem to be cosmic forces, rhythms of the universe. In Space Net I was thinking about signals netting the planet, ricocheting from node to node, and occupying space using node-satellites.

Space Net speaks to the increasing prevalence of surveillance and monitoring technologies. Whereas, Earth's Pulse speaks to our hearts - in fact, in Abu Dhabi a male visitor to my 2005 exhibition at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, stood in front of this painting for a long time. He was a huge man, dressed in white robes - I am not sure which part of the Middle East he came from. He turned to me and said "This painting reminds me of my mortality."

Maybe Space Net indicates a kind of planetary life support, or heart bypass scenario - metaphorically speaking?


EXPERIMENT
This experiment in searching for resonances between paintings created years apart has been really interesting for me. One could say that the present is always evident in the past, but there are other thoughts too. I hope you have enjoyed this uncanny - perhaps curious -  journey. It will continue!

Cheers,
Kathryn

BIRTH OF LIGHT

Birth Of Light Oil on linen 122 x 153 cm 2014

 

 

 

I've been painting!

 

 

And reading...three books at once. One is Wonders Of The Universe by Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen. It's the book based on the BBC series of the same name which is hosted by Brian Cox. The first chapter is called Messengers and light, visible and not visible [eg: Cosmic Microwave Background CMB] is the main topic. Light, which exhibits a wave/particle [photon] duality, brings us information from and about the early stages of the Universe our 13.7 billion year old environment.

 

It is amazing to realise that visible light emanating from stars, and other entities in space, is old by the time it reaches us. We are seeing the past in our present because light takes time to reach us. As Cox and Cohen write about human awareness through sight, even when we look at ourselves in a mirror, Without realising it, we are all travelling back in time by the most minuscule amount. The consequence of light travelling fast, but not infinitely fast, is the you see everything as it was in the past. The text goes onto say However, the further we are away from an object, the greater the delay becomes.[1] For example light from the our sun takes 8.3 minutes to reach us and from Neptune it takes 4 hours. With the help of Earth-based telescopes and observational spacecraft we augment our ability to see back into time. For example for just over 20 years the Hubble Space Telescope, in orbit 600 km from Earth, has brought us images of deep space that have changed our Universal perspectives. These changes influence science and spirituality, both having awe in common.

 

For the naked eye, without help from technology, the night sky is a 'jewel box' of sparkles and luscious bling. I find it intriguing to think about those who lived 100s and 1000s of years ago, who without technology, made valuable and interesting observations of the night sky. For instance, Australian Aboriginal astronomy has provided interesting perspectives for modern scientists. An article called The First Astronomers by Andi Horvath, in The Age newspaper, briefly describes some of the sophisticated observations made by Aboriginal people. You can do some more research yourself, as there is plenty available.

 

LIGHT'S BRUSHSROKES

The night sky provides a black canvas for visible light to 'paint' Universal history upon. Every night the 'painting' subtly changes. Daylight saturates us with warmth, illumination and energy, but as night arrives it's like turning a page in the story of time. It's also fascinating to think that light, in all its visible and invisible permutations, itself has a history. Whilst photons appeared in the first three minutes of the Universe, it took along time for visible light to emit. This happened about 400 million years later when stars and galaxies started to form. You will need to read a book like The Wonders Of The Universe to get more detail on this incredible history. I recommend it.

 

METAPHOR

Light as a metaphor, for knowledge, pathways, spirit, guidance and more, has interested me for a long time. A previous post called Let There Be Light   is a small online exhibition of a few of my 'light' paintings. It is easy to understand why light, especially visible light, has entered humankind's cultural, spiritual and religious endeavours and beliefs in the form of metaphor. Through ritual, ceremony and artistic interpretation light essentially celebrates wonder...and how amazingly appropriate is that! It links us back to the beginnings of time! It also links us all, for humanity as a whole, across time, is witness to this light. The shared metaphor and symbol across cultures and religions, is like a thread that knits us together.

 

BIRTH OF LIGHT Oil on linen 122 x 153 cm

My new painting Birth Of Light tries to capture light's 'brushstrokes' across time and space, those 'strokes' that illuminate and those that provide unseen, but felt or detectible forces. Yet, like many of my paintings, there is an ambiguity because it could be an image of the beginnings of the Universe, yet also maybe one star, or a galaxy, or it could be a thought emitting knowledge and creativity that affects the world, or it could be an eye...the very thing that enables us to see light. It could also be the culmination of human spirituality, the thread drawing us together. I like the idea of humanity being woven together by light.

This painting is not a scientific illustration or an artist's impression. It a creative piece inspired by wonder and awe. I will say though, that it is definitely a cosmic 'landscape'...a landscape untethered from Earth's horizons. A scape of humanity's soul...maybe?

 

Birth Of Light is related to my earlier painting, below, called Pale Blue Dot [inspired by Carl Sagan]

 

I also wrote a post a few weeks ago called Art -Science -Imagination -Wonder which might interest you. it was inspired by something astronaut Chris Hadfield said in an interview on Australian TV.

 

 

 Pale Blue Dot [Inspired by Carl Sagan] oil on linen 120 x 150 cm 2014

 

 Footnotes:

1. Cox, B and Cohen, A Wonders Of The Universe Harper Collins, London, 2011 P.44

 

 

OTHER NEWS

Tomorrow night Saturday 18 October 2014 I am one of 13 artists from Barcelona, Brisbane, Paris and Sydney in a one night exhibition called Painted Prose. We have each responded to poems written by Brent Bridgeford. The poem I responded to is called In Abysm Inhere which actually uses light and dark as very forceful metaphors for internal battles.

 

The exhibition is on at Substation 4, 22 Petrie Tce, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia - 7 pm.

 

My painting is An Eternal Dance [below]. In this painting I have played with light and contrasting dark. I am really happy with it.

 

 

An Eternal Dance Gouache on paper 32 x 114 cm 2014

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com



SURRENDERING HORIZON

Surrendering Horizon Oil on linen 100 x 150 cm 2014

 

I return to the concept of 'horizon'. Yes, the concept...horizon as a metaphor as well as a literal element of landscape. But then again 'landscape' can be used as a metaphor for our internal psyches. The dance between the literal and metaphoric entices, excites, probes and ultimately extends the 'horizon/s' of our thinking.

 

I wrote a post recently called The Universe Draws You Out Like A Multi-Dimensional Horizon The painting and the post were inspired by well known Australian author Tim Winton's speech The Island Seen and Felt: Some Thoughts About Landscapes: presented at the Royal Academy in London, November 2013. You can listen to it at the Royal Academy's site HERE  The idea that horizon exists within us, to be drawn out by the Universe is really exciting. It alludes to the fact that we are part of the landscape, not separate from it, physically, emotionally or spiritually. After all, when we die we literally return to 'landscape' in burial or cremation. And, when our planet finally reaches its demise, a few billion years away, we and Earth return to the stars...to the 'landscape' of the Universe.

 

In Surrendering Horizon [above] I have 'torn' the horizon line away from the landscape. It now seems to draw the landscape towards new perspectives, as it enjoys relinquishing its tethered state. It almost playfully entices the landscape to reach out, and in this process, lifts its 'eyes' towards Universal [possibly even Multiversal] distance.

 

The untethered horizon offers the opportunity to look back from its playful place...to look back at Earth...and to look back at Earth placed within its Universal environment. Indeed, from a distance, not only is the planet visible for scrutiny, but so is its position amongst other celestial bodies. I wonder how important manmade borders and boundaries appear from distance that places Earth within a Universal perspective? I wonder how vulnerably beautiful our planet looks...this vulnerability and beauty imploring us to think more expansively about how we live on, love and share Earth?

 

Regular readers will notice my tree...the age-old transcultural/religious tree of life. Notice that I have painted it the same colour as the mountainous horizon and the untethered one. I'll let you think about that!

And, something else to think about. The title Surrendering Horizon ...is the horizon surrendering itself or are we surrendering it...or both?

 

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And, more about landscape. My brother Wilfred Brimblecombe has recently taken some amazing photographs of the landscape surrounding the family farm, which was sold in the 1980s. Please visit his website WILFRED BRIMBLECOMBE: Photography, Stories, Ephemera future and past  There are a couple of terrific photographs of rain falling but evaporating before it hits the ground.

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

 

SOMETHING ABOUT SPACE:

Where?  Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm 2013

Yesterday I saw the new movie GRAVITY starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. I LOVED it. I was on the edge of my seat, totally gripped, for the entire film.

So why did I love it? Apart from the beauty of Earth seen from space, and the excitement of a catastrophic disaster in space, with people attempting to overcome unimaginable obstacles [one after the other], GRAVITY, at one level, is a story based on a real concern. And, it is a story that needs to be told in the 21st century because of this concern. Essentially the film is about manmade space debris causing mayhem as it hurtles, in this case, at great speed in repeated orbit around the Earth.

The space debris in GRAVITY is the result of two satellites colliding, causing large and small pieces of super engineered craft to become a repeating debris hailstorm. Catastrophically, some of these pieces of debris smash into other satellites and spacecraft, including the one our protagonists are working on. And, when I say working on... they are literally outside, attempting to make repairs.

Other Worlds Ahoy! Oil on linen 80 x 90 cm 2013

IT'S A STORY!
Now, at this point we need to remember that GRAVITY is a story, a fiction. Indeed, there have been a number of scientists who have clearly detailed how many of the actions, situations, pieces of equipment etc are not factually correct or possible [you can Google them].

And, as the film's director Alphonso Cuaron has said, It is not a documentary. It is a piece of fiction. 

But, many stories/fictions are sparked by reality where a fear, a desire, a suggestion, a possibility, especially proposed by science, stimulates creative juices.

REALITY!
So let's talk reality! In 2009 there was an actual collision between two satellites. The US Motorola owned Iridium communications satellite and an old deactivated Russian Cosmos 2251 satellite collided on February 10th 2009. This collision added to an already existing list of human-made debris in space.

Space debris has become a concern and NASA tracks every identified piece. Why? Because, debris, even one piece, may hit something important! And, the more debris there is, the likelihood of impacts is increased.  Orbital debris is considered the biggest threat to each shuttle mission, and every orbiter comes back with a number of small dings. [ABC News: An Unprecedented Space Collision, Feb 2009]

Here's some examples of space debris, as described on NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office: Derelict spacecraft and upper stages of launch vehicles, carriers for multiple payloads, debris intentionally released during spacecraft separation from its launch vehicle or during mission operations, debris created as a result of spacecraft or upper stage explosions or collisions, solid rocket motor effluents, and tiny flecks of paint released by thermal stress or small particle impacts.

Please read more at NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office...fascinating reading. Yes, they will shift the International Space Station [ISS] to avoid space debris! This happens!

LITTERING...FOR HOW LONG?
How long has it taken humankind to set up a situation where human-made space debris is a concern, so- much-so that it provides a stimulus for artistic license to incredibly extrapolate fears and dangers in a film like GRAVITY? Well, that would be since 1957 when the Russians launched the first satellite, Sputnik 1. It has taken us only around 55 years to litter space...or a part of space that's really important to us. The part where satellites, that keep us communicating, navigating, orientating, entertained, observing and more, orbit. Space debris is a 21st century problem.

GRAVITY is a reminder that our environment extends beyond our planet and its atmosphere!

 

BACK ON EARTH
So, this brings me to something I wondered about when I watched GRAVITY. In the film the hailstorm of debris wipes out numerous satellites, including the International Space Station [ISS]. I wondered if back-on-Earth, as a result of satellite reliant systems failure, airplanes fell out of the sky, the internet collapsed, ships went off course, financial systems went array...and more. The film gives few clues to what happened on Earth while feats of super-human endurance were enacted in space by Sandra Bullock's character, Dr. Stone...oh that's right it's just a story!

VISUAL METAPHORS
There are some visual metaphors that create subliminal connectors throughout the film. These relate to foetal positions, pods, first steps, umbilical cords, birth and birth canals, letting go, rebirth... Mother. I could write more on this, but maybe another time! Sandra Bullock, aka Dr. Stone's, emergence from the water where she crash lands, is a metaphor of birth or rebirth. This could be interpreted not just a new life for her, but also humanity.

EARTH MAYBE OUR HOME BUT THE UNIVERSE IS OUR ENVIRONMENT
GRAVITY, whilst it deals with only a miniscule section of space, clearly sends a message that 'environment' is something more than our planet Earth.


Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program
In January2013 I attended the Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program White Paper: Common Horizons delivery at the University of South Australia. The program is a five week intensive interdisciplinary program from the International Space University, hosted by the University of South Australia. My daughter attended the program...and did not want it to end because because it was so wonderful, stimulating and challenging. The White Paper focuses upon the management of space resources whilst providing recommendations on space sustainability through policy, awareness and technology. 

The White Paper discusses, among other issues, the topic of space debris, addressing it as a threat to space sustainability.

My daughter and I would highly recommend anyone with an interest in space and the various issues that are confronting us and will confront us as we move through the 21st century, to undertake the Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program. 

In 2013 about 40 people completed the course. Some were undergrads, some graduates, some PhD students, and some who were already working in the industry or associated. Most were from a science or engineering background, but there was one from a law/humanities area...my daughter. Yes, the program is definitely cross and inter disciplinary! Apart from the science and engineering aspects, the program deals with legal and policy issues, cultural impacts, environmental horizons, international collaboration and more.

_______________________________________________________________

OSCAR AWARDS UPDATE 3-3-14
Gravity has won 7 Oscars, including best Director. 
Knew it was a great movie!

 

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

MOUNTAINS

More Mountains Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm 2002

 

I am suffering from an impasse. I have three canvases prepared for me to paint, but the flow is just not happening at the moment. Time to pause and reflect. It is all part of the process, the creative process. I have learnt to to step away, literally and emotionally, from my work when this happens, to make room for ideas to flow, and gel into inspiration.

The impasse has possibly happened because I was co-host to a big milestone party for one of my children. Yep...lot's of energy put into, what turned out to be, one of the best parties I have ever been to. I danced till 2.30am!

So, I decided to write this BLOG post featuring paintings where I have portrayed mountains. In my last post FAITH I wrote about mountains being a metaphor for overcoming adversity. The mountain is a metaphor for adversity, which upon ascent reveals new horizons and perspectives, giving fuel for optimism and hope.

Regular readers will know that I use landscape elements as visual metaphors for many things eg: horizons, mirages, trees, skies and so on. By using landscape elements, to reach out and touch hearts and minds, I hope that a connection between us and Earth, plus our universal environment, is deepened. Ascribing emotional elements to landscape may possibly make us think twice about how we sustain ourselves and the planet.

More Mountains and Metaphor are two paintings from ten years ago, just after I left the country to move to Brisbane. Yes, there is a personal element...a story of a journey...a massive change and overcoming fear and adversity. I literally left the interior, crossed the great Dividing Range and settled near the coast.

These two paintings were inspired by the many trips I used to make to and from Brisbane to Goondiwindi. This 4-5 hour drive took me, and my family, across the Great Dividing Range either at Cunningham's Gap or Toowoomba. Please check out this MAP where you can see the terrain. The driving directions given on the map are directing through Toowoomba, but you can also go through Warwick.

The mountains at Cunningham's Gap are amazing. Their light and shade, deep rich colour and their amazing silhouettes are astounding. Each time I see them I slow down, just to 'drink' in with my eyes, their beauty and majesty. More Mountains and Metaphor are both directly inspired by the mountains at Cunningham's Gap.

Metaphor Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2002

 

 

The painting below is called Life and as you can see, it tells the story of a woman's journey from birht to death. It is somewhat black in its demeanour. But, notice the mountains in the distance. They can be read many ways...as a block, a cause of shadow and darkness, an opportunity, new horizons, strength, potential. The road, as indicated by the marked lines does not end. It continues out of the paintings, maybe traversing the mountians and reaching the other side. As each generation is born new opportunities and different expectations forge a diversity of roads.

 

 

Life Oil on linen 80 x 200 cm 2005

 

Secrets Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2005

 

In Secrets the mountains are half hidden, by what seems to be a mirage-like aura. They shimmer in the distance, enticing with their glimpsed majesty. What secrets do they hold? What is over the other side, literally and metaphorically?

 Mountains Dancing Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2005

 

Mountains Dancing was recently shortlisted for an art award with a theme focused on the benefits of rain. Here is the Artist's Statement I wrote for my entry:

I grew up on the Darling Downs, on the flat treeless Pirrinuan Plain between Dalby and Jimbour. Looking west the flat horizon melted into shimmering mirages in Summer, and in Winter its flatness drew a sharp line between land and sky. Looking east the majestic Bunya Mountains cut a silhouette against often relentless blue skies. These same skies, when darkened with rain and storm clouds, seemed to embrace the mountains, bringing them closer.

The flat western horizon would often tantalise my parents with strips of rain falling on distant paddocks. We’d pray for the rain to come to us. One hot day, my two younger brothers and I decided to help by dancing a wild rain dance! It actually rained a few drops!

I also remember my father’s delight when gentle soaking rain arrived, swelling the rich black soil and easing his anxiety.

In Mountains Dancing I have incorporated memories of my childhood, plus those of living for eighteen years further west in Goondiwindi. Strips of rain, on distant horizons, always met with emotional responses, particularly during drought. In this painting, strips of rain fall from clouds which seem to dance across a fertile red sky. Water penetrates the land, forming and replenishing what could be rivers, puddles, underground aquifers.

The whole landscape dances with joy and fertility. The latter symbolised by the colour red. A dancing rhythm of movement suggests a natural flow of water on and in the landscape, bringing it to life, sustaining crops, livestock, flora and fauna…and livelihoods.

 

 

Living With Distance oil on linen 120 x 160 [Diptych] 2002

Living With Distance is another painting from ten years ago. Notice the mountains edging the curvature of the Earth. A bride floats above the landscape, her veil forming cloud-like illusions across a vast sky. As a young bride, like many who marry and live in the country, I literally lived with distance. Yet, distance is not only about the literal space between things. It can also be about emotional distance and spiritual separation from people and the planet. However, the bride in  Living With Distance seems to embrace the planet in a white light, a light of protection, as her dress and body mirror land formations and contours. The white lines marking the Earth, seem to call out to the bride. They are the spiritual remnants of pioneering women of the past, ancestors who forged the fabric of community.

 In Unison Oil on linen 92 x 207cm  2006 SOLD

 

In Unison is in a collection in Sth Korea. This is something I wrote previously:

 

'In Unison' speaks about the universal heartbeat of time and history. At a truly fundamental level we are reminded of life by the beating of our hearts and the rhythmic pace of our breath. No matter where we come from, what religion we have faith in, what type of political structure we espouse at a fundamental level we all share the same reminders of life. ..those elements of life that have a pattern and rhythm.

 

Elemental Oil on linen 52 x 90 cm 2009

Elemental  is an ambiguous landscape. The tree-of-life creates a formation mirroring a few landscape elements including a mountain. Red 'clouds' rain down onto the tree-of-life mountain.

Into the Symphony Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2008

 

I have written about Into The Symphony twice before. Please check HERE and HERE

Viscera Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2008 SOLD

 

From a previous Artist's Statement

 

This painting is about ‘seeing’ the interiority of vastness at the same time as witnessing the vastness enmass.  The macro and micro can be  experienced simultaneously, possibly giving clues to negotiating an increasingly globalised world lived locally. This painting also plays with perspective and distance.

I have called this painting ‘Viscera’ meaning that the internal life forces of the earth are revealed. Yet, ignoring the detail, the sum total is a large landscape. But, is the viewer sure of where they stand in view of this vast landscape? Is the viewer in front of a land and sky scene, or above a landscape of land and water, or inside the internal workings? The landscape seems to be born from a tree…the tree-of-life with its branches becoming visceral and vascular reminding us that our bodies hold these same truths and energies. This is where the image can devolve into something more universal than a particular landscape. I like the fact that a viewer standing at a distance will ‘see’ one  ‘landscape’ and then up close there is another landscape, yet it is the same landscape…a living one. Enticing the viewer to move back and forth from the painting replicates the moves I made when creating it. This dance with distance is an important component of my work.

 

Frisson with Distance Oil on linen 85 x 147cm 2009 SOLD

 

 

Frisson Oil on linen 84 x 147 cm 2010 SOLD

 

 

Hope In The Distance Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2010 SOLD

The three paintings above Frisson, Frisson With Distance and Hope In The Distance are all ambiguous landscapes featuring a mountain-like form, created with my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol. They are also similar to Into The Symphony and Viscera.

In Frisson and Frisson With Distance the charged moment where horizons meet is the frisson of life, possibility and hope. The tingle, like the moment before a kiss, is inherent. The mountain meets the sky, connecting everything, fueling energy and suggesting potential.

Knowing Stillness Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm 2011 SOLD

 Galactic Horizons and Beyond Oil on linen 90 x 150 cm 2012

Knowing Stillness and Galactic Horizons and Beyond are very recent paintings, where the mountain has been untethered from more formal and traditional interpretations. The metaphoric quality pervades and the images take on multiple possibilities beyond Earth-bound perspectives.

The Mountain offers a view of where we have been and where we might go. It also clearly affords us the knowledge that there is more beyond sight, beyond the distances already travelled and those yet to be traversed. Having been in the valleys, where sight is impeded, the notion of close and far distances helps us negotiate perils, sanctuaries, unkonwns and hope.

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com