CLOSE AND FAR DISTANCE

                                                              Oil on linen 80 x 150 cm

I am in a quandary. I have painted this new work above with general ideas of an 'everything landscape' in mind. Yet, I don't know what to call it. Maybe, by the end of writing this post a title will have come to me.

I was wanting to visually capture a sense of vastness at the same time as revealing the minutiae that etches character, nuance and intimacy into the landscape. I wanted the landscape to be ambiguous with regards to exact place and space, yet recognisable as landscape, yes an Australian one, but also a universal one. I hoped that viewers would 'read' the painting in a variety of ways, at one instance seeing for example, land and sea, at another instance land and sky, or maybe fire and water, or perhaps at a micro level seeing a cross section of a drop of water and a grain of sand. Maybe seeing 'everything' and every perspective at once...

This landscape took me back to my childhood growing up on the treeless Pirriunuan Plain, just outside Dalby on the Darling Downs, Queensland. Looking eastwards, the majestic Bunya Moutains cut a startling silhouette against endless skies. Looking westwards the flat horizon shimmered with watery mirages in summer, and in winter the crisp coldness evaporated mirages to almost reveal the curvature of the Earth. Within this vast expanse I could be propelled from a wonder of endless space to a curiosity of micro intimacies. This experience of close and far distance has inspired me over many years. These are the 'landscape' elements I try to visually describe.

Regular readers will know of my interest in perspective, literal and metaphoric. I have written about it numerous times. In an increasingly globalised world in which we live locally, it is imperative that we develop skills in seeing multiple perspectives...even simultaneously. The dance between the macro and micro involves a myriad of, what could be called, perspectival steps... like a tango where there are flamboyantly expressed moves and tantalisingly intimate gestures, or like a symphony where music's fulsome largess can seem beyond distance and individual notes can catapult the listener to places where seductive secrets stir.

So back to the painting above. Two of my much loved transcultural-religious trees-of-life create the landscape elements, both broadly speaking as well as in detail. The Australian landscape, particularly where I grew up, constantly changes. As seasons pass, sorghum crops swathe the landscape in rusty red, wheat fields wash it with naples yellow, sunflowers make it sing with a sunshine yellow, new seedlings whisper a soft green hue. When the soil is fallow it reveals a rich and fertile blackness. The sky can be crystal blue, sometimes greeted by fluffy white clouds, and at other times dense grey ones. At night the darkness is still, only interrupted by the sparkle of the Milky Way and the moon in its various phases. I remember when my Father, like most farmers at the time, used to burn the stubble after harvesting was completed. This was done under controlled conditions and prior to research showing that ploughing the stubble back into the soil was a better method.  The fires were outstanding, furious and shortlived. The colours were rich and thick. In drought the land is bare and naked, after rain it sings with new colours.

Intimate details such as cracked dry soil, scattered seeds, abundant mushrooms after rain, animal droppings, snake trails, discovering chook eggs in the bamboo, dropped feathers, rain drops on leaves, puddles, small insects [sometimes in plague proportions!], wildflowers and so on, are the warp and weft creating the tapestry of vastness. They are all there in the landscape above...trust me!

Regular readers might ask about my concerns for the land, and the landscape, with regards to the burgeoning Coal Seam Gas industry and the growth in open cut mining. Indeed, these activities disrupt the landscape externally and internally, visually and vibrationally. The quiet stillness of the black of night, in parts of Australia, is now silenced with the constant and persistent noise of gas wells. The landscape is visually punctuated with these same wells and underground they bore into depths where gas extraction potentially can change aquifer dynamics and soil profiles. As regular readers know, my concerns have been expressed many time before on this BLOG.

Most Australians know their landscape is affected by the volatility inherent in nature's extremes....bush fires, floods, droughts, cyclones ravage the land. Indeed, in Western Queensland and Northern New South Wales, floods are currently wrecking homes, businesses, crops and infrastructure. The town of St. George is having its third flood within two years and the town has been evacuated. Whilst the water is currently destructive, the long term benefits are enormous. The soil's profile is now replete with moisture, dams and rivers are full. Three to four years ago the soil was starved of moisture, dams were low, rivers in danger.

I think I will call this painting 'Close and Far Distance'

SELECTED PERSPECTIVE AND DISTANCE POSTS

CLOSE DISTANCE
PERSPECTIVE-Distance
INTO THE SYMPHONY
HOPE IN THE DISTANCE
NOTIONS OF PERSPECTIVE
THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING
UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE


 *****************************************************************************

FOR EVERYONE: WORDS AND PAINTINGS UPDATE
Two weeks today until my BOOK LAUNCH!

Just a reminder that my book launch for 'For Everyone: Words and Paintings' is Thursday 23 February! Click HERE for more details.

TESTIMONIALS

Not only is Kathryn a deeply talented, original and inspiring artist, she has a gift for wordsmithing as well! Utilizing the raw power of her art, ‘For Everyone’ is a masterful insight into the very essence of who we truly are, our complexities, our simplicities and who we are meant to be. Dr George Blair-West, Author of The Way of the Quest

In Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox’s book, 'For Everyone: Words and Paintings', the combination of words and images is a gift to the senses. I highly recommend it. Felix Calvino, Author of A Hatful of Cherries

For Everyone is absolutely beautiful and as I read the prose, and looked at the paintings, it was like going on a personal journey of my life. It touched on fond memories of my childhood and reinforced my beliefs in being an individual. As a teacher I know this book could be used in so many ways. In 2011 I organised and ran the Gifted and Talented Program in Writing at my school. Many students in my class published their poetry and stories in an Australian wide writing competition. I am continuing in this position in 2012 and will incorporate this unique book to help my students develop their ideas and be more expressive. The paintings and phrases in For Everyone are great conversation starters. They will also inspire and encourage students to be brave enough to share and express their thoughts and individuality. This book is a fabulous resource for educating and inspiring young people to share the beauty from within! Lou Walsh: Primary School Teacher

So, until next time,
Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING

                         The Beginning Of Everything: Remembering Distance Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm 2010

I have been working on this new painting for weeks, full days and into the nights. After looking at this painting, viewers could think I was a little obsessive! Well, that might be the case with this painting! It just kept propelling me and I now feel somewhat lost. This feeling will go, when I start the next painting, which is already percolating in my mind.

The Beginning Of Everything ....where do I start!! Funny question when you think of the title! But, that's just it...the title and the painting pose more questions than answers...not that I think art necessarily does, or should, even try to answer anything. If it had the answers, I think, art would truly be dead.

Perspectives

I had this idea that I wanted to paint an mage which 'spoke' about the beginning, those nano seconds after the Big Bang. What would 'landscape' be like? I wanted to paint an image which gave an impression of those nano instances, but also the presence of whatever it is/was that set it ALL in motion. Coupled with those post-Big Bang nano instances I wanted to paint an image which could be 'read' as that intimate nano-second when each human life begins. Regular readers will know that my interest in the connection between close and far distance, the intimate and vast, the micro and macro, drives my search for a way to open multiple perspectives.

Tree-of-Life

In this painting, I have used my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life motif which cuts its capillary-like branches across the 'landscape' ...from the Universe of outer space and the 'universe' within the womb, to the 'universe' of human psyche. The tree's branches weave their way across the space, which can seem to both inside and outside something...vast and/or intmate. I wanted to give a sense that perhaps we, the viewers, are witnessing something from the edge of a 'happening'...that we are both witnesses and participants.  I wanted to give a sense that the image contained more than it revealed. 

Childhood Landscape

The vastness of my childhood landscape on my parent's farm outside Dalby on the Darling Downs, has influenced my interest in the 'play' between the vast and intimate. Indeed, the vastness meant that one could be both witness and participant, because multiple distances could be seen and felt simultaneously. The relentless blue skies of the daytime turned into the twinkling sheath of the Milky Way at night. The Bunya Mountains, cutting a majestic silhouette in the east, contrasted with the flat treeless horizon in the west. In between this distance there was space to notice the minutiae of life. Things such as the snaking cracks in the black soil, which miraculously closed up when rain turned the soil into thick mud. Things such as grains of wheat scattered on the side of the road, the creeping tendrils of prickle plants, drops of water on leaves, little whirly winds which picked up dust, feathers, seeds.

I remember, as a child, lying on my back on a thick patch of green clover [before the prickle bindis formed] gazing up at the sky. The clover was like a lush bed and the sky seemed full of energy. As a child I remember my grandmother, who lived in town, taking me and my brothers outside her house, at night, to gaze at the stars. My grandmother knew all the constellations and tried to teach us to identify them. She brought the galaxy closer to us with her knowledge. In a sense she gave us the experience of being witness and participant in the 'beginning of everything'.

Visitors from Overseas
My parents, over the years, hosted a number of visitors from foreign countries [India, Germany, UK, Malaysia, New Guinea] and many of these visitors had trouble coping with the vastness of the flat naturally treeless plain landscape of my childhood. The distance frightened them. Even friends of mine from the city had issues with the vastness. I sensed they felt 'on edge'... literally on the edge of something which went beyond just physical experience.

Back to the painting! The larger section on the top right, still depicting the tree, gives a sense of space...both within and without. The red tinged appearance is a deliberate reference to the doppler effect, suggesting that what we see is receding, and thus expanding, at speed away from us. Yet, the blue tinge suggests a movement towards us. The round 'hole' references many things, including but not limited to...black holes, the possibility of other Universes, the stillness at the vortex core, atoms, birth canals, an eye [with all its symbolic meanings], veins...the moon of my childhood memories gazing at the night sky with my grandmother.

Whilst my childhood memories and wonderments have inspired this painting, some of the extra [or coupling] inspirations came from a book I have mentioned before...a fascinating book called 'Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe' by Martin Rees [Basic Books, 2000] Martin Rees is Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, and Master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. He also holds the honorary title of Astronomer Royal and Visiting Professor at Imperial College London and at Leicester University.

WATER
Please check out some of my meanderings on water...its issues are the most serious of this century. You can start here http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/murray-darling-currency.html

Cheers,
Kathryn

TUILLE SKIRT AND OTHER THINGS

Detail of work in progress

                               Detail of work in progress-taken at an angle

The two images above are details from a large painting I am currently working on. My thoughts are about the creation of the Universe, or maybe seeing another Universe...with the idea of 'Universe' being about our external physical world, as well as our internal emotional/psychological world. Regular readers will identify with my play between the distances of the nano and universal, intimate and vast, macro and micro. In whatever case, my VORTEX ideas are propelling me. The VORTEX gives me the energy to tunnel in all directions! I have written about my VORTEX ideas previously...here is a link that will also take you to other VORTEX links too http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/knowledge-of-stillness.html

But, before I leave the VORTEX...just a reminder that my solo show opening 22 February 2011 is called VORTEX. As you can see from the images above, my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life is my visual conduit into the life propelling realms of the VORTEX.

IN MY STUDIO
In this post, I have decided not to dwell too much on ideas, theories...heavy stuff. Instead I thought I'd upload some images of my studio and me.

Here I am in my studio where I paint my works on paper. I share this room with the hot water system and the fuse box. It is actually a kind of non-room, so it's perfect for making a mess in.

Here are some works on paper in progress. Regular readers will possibly see that these are the beginnings of some of my 'water' paintings. That is if they don't end up ripped to pieces because I am not happy with them!

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/water-gallery.html

Here I am in my studio where I paint my oil paintings...well... it is actually the garage and I share it with a lot of other things, but not the car because I have a carport for it. As you can see I do not have any flash studio furniture. Indeed an old washing machine suffices for a bench! The good thing is that I don't have to be 'precious' about anything.

And, here I am loading a big painting onto the roof racks of my car. Needless to say I do not travel long distances with paintings on the top of my car. However, around Brisbane it is ok, except when wet! Of course, on the odd ocassion I have had to collect my children from school, with a painting atop the car, I have been a complete and utter embarrassment! No-one elses mother has something as conspicuous as a painting wrapped in bubble wrap atop her car!

And now to a photo to show that I can 'glam up' a bit too. Here I am in an outfit, part of which I made! The black top is actually a gorgeous corset which I bought. It 's meant for underwear, but I thought it was beautiful enough for outer wear! [Now I won't go into what my kids said about that!] The tuille skirt and shawl are both made by moi. The shawl was easy. Just a length of tuille with little pink bows randomly sewn all over it. The skirt took a bit longer, because it has layers of pink and brown tuille attached to a lycra band, which I also made.

So that's it for today. Some lighter-note things, which I hope people enjoy seeing.

Cheers,

Kathryn

AFTERGLOW

                                           Afterglow oil on linen 100 x 100cm


Our universe, our galaxy, our sun, our planet, our biosphere, us, and all the atoms and forces which manifest existence are part of the 'afterglow' which errupted into being within nanoseconds after the 'Big Bang'. The macro and micro are intrinsically linked by their shared genesis, universal horizons are seemingly forever propelled in expansion and we grapple to understand.

I have written about horizons before, noting that they are not necessarily always in front of us, both metaphoric and real ones. They are all around us, and when reached more horizons cascade into attention. Yet, when we think about the horizons offered by an expanding universe space and time melt into fluidity.

It kind of puts life on Earth into perspective when trying to imagine the horizons of an expanding universe. Regular readers know of my interest in notions of perspective and my idea that the ability to experience different and many perspectives simultaneously needs to have its own name. Indeed the experience, truly felt, might actually be another dimension.

So, to the painting above. Regular readers would notice that I have painted a few paintings with this circular shape created with my much loved tree-of-life motif. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/compassion.html  and http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/love.html In this painting above I wanted to suggest an afterglow that is all of life, both earth bound and beyond. The circular shape throws the idea of horizons to the infinite, and is symbolic of life everlasting. The red represents the glow after a huge explosion, but also the red light emitted from the propulsion of the expanding universe.

This painting incorporates the subatomic and the universal, the vast and intimate, the macro and micro. If there is one thing which I spend time contemplating, it is the space or distance between, trying to situate myself so I can 'see' it all at once and possibly 'be' it all at once. The role of imagination is significant as is an accompanying emotional capacity to lose oneself with the confidence that one will be found.

Please have a look at my website http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/ I've added some images and details.

Coming up are the Tattersall's Landscape Award opening 8 September and the BAware Exhibition, themed on the Millenium Goals, opening at St. John's Cathedral, Brisbane, on October 8. I will have at least 3 paintings in the latter exhibition.

Cheers,
Kathryn

NOTIONS OF PERSPECTIVE

Into My Galaxy Oil on linen 85 x 147 cm

I hung my exhibition 'Presence' at the Upfront Club in Maleny yesterday. For my BLOG visitors from overseas, Maleny is a picturesque town in the hinterland hills behind Queensland's famous Sunshine Coast. It takes about 1 3/4 hours to drive north from Brisbane. The town has an eclectic population of young and old, artists, musicians, retired academics, retired all sorts of people [journalists, merchant bankers, farmers], hillchangers from Sydney and Melbourne, Feng Shui experts, world leaders in co-operatives and so on.

The show looks great...if I say so myself. And, I certainly received very positive stroking comments from a number of people ...passers by, staff at the Upfront Club, diners. Lots of chatting yesterday in between the unwrapping of paintings and being precariously perched on the top rung of a ladder.

Here's a link to a recent  previous post about 'Presence':
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/presence.html

DETAILS OF THE EXHIBITION:

Title of Exhibition: PRESENCE
Dates: Thursday 20 – Tuesday 15 June 2010
Venue: Upfront Club, 31 Maple St, Maleny. 07 5494 2592 http://www.upfrontclub.org/
Opening Event: Thursday 20 May 6 pm – 8 pm

Forever Connected Oil on linen 120 x 80 cm

The Brush Of Angels' Wings Oil on linen 50 x 92 cm

The three paintings above 'Into My Galaxy', 'Forever Connected' and 'The Brush Of Angels' Wings' are in 'Presence'. With all three paintings I have explored notions of perspective. Regular readers of my BLOG know that literal and metaphoric perspective are of great interest to me. Metaphoric perspective is the greater interest. However, I distort or play with literal perspective to engage the viewer in a felt experience of not being quite sure of their viewing point and thus their 'place' in relationship with the painting. In an increasingly globalised world in which we live locally, I think it is a matter of survival to develop skills of 'seeing' multiple perspectives simultaneously. Yet, traditional notions of perspective compel us to 'see' maybe one to three points of view, but not necessarily simultaneously. Distance also transpires to keep perspective as a line-of-sight kind of experience rather than a sentient multi-dimensional experience, that maybe akin to some kind of absorbtion. With this in mind, I am beginning to think that traditional notins of perspective are limiting and that a new name needs to be created to describe the ability to 'see' mutiple viewpoints simultaneously.

The three paintings above all depict the tree-of-life. As regular readers of my BLOG know this archetypal symbol is my favoured visual vehicle to explore my ideas. The tree-of-life is transcultural and trans-religious and thus needs no or little explanation. From my experience I know its potency is that it resonnates deep within people, at an almost cellular level. Yet, why should this surprise? The tree mirrors our own bodies, our internal life systems as well as those systems that nurture the Earth...and of course the potential is that it provides some kind of mirror to those systems existing beyond Earth, but which in turn keep our planet from disappearing.

'Into My Galaxy' is all about 'out there'. The tree is the source seemingly contained within the moment of fertilisation, set against a universal background which simultaneously suggests endless space and the intimate warm protection of the womb. Yet, the tree could also be interpreted as being inside the energy or fundamental force suggested by String Theory. Viewed up close this painting revelas that all the small markings which create the colourful background are little squigggles or 'strings' replicating the larger shape in which the tree is contained.

Regular readers of my BLOG know that I am very interested in how people view my paintings. The movement back and forth to see my work at close and far distance is important to me. Firstly it replicates how I have created a painting, as I paint up close and move back to a distance to examine and analyse what I have done. Secondly, this movement of both the artist and the viewer is maybe an exemplar for how we need to view our increasingly globalised world ie: to understand and 'see' the macro as well as the micro.

I have written about 'The Brush Of Angels' Wings' and 'Forever Connected' previously. Here are the links:
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/05/angels-wings.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/05/forever-connected.html


Cheers,
Kathryn

FRISSON @ GRAYDON

One Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2009

FRISSON UPDATE

Readers of my BLOG will know I have been working towards my solo show Frisson for quite some time. My last solo exhibition Prayers For The Planet was in October 2007. I just love the word frisson...don't you? I wrote an open ended 'recipe' for a frisson a few posts ago. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/feeling-frisson.html

Readers will also know that due to circumstances beyond my control I had to cancel Frisson at the gallery where I had to exhibit. BUT, GOOD NEWS! I am very excited, because FRISSON will now be exhibited at Graydon Gallery, in New Farm, Brisbane from 16-28 March, open daily 10am -6 pm. The opening will be Thursday 18 March from 5.30-8 pm. Everything is falling into place really well, and I have already received some fantastic support and encouragement.

The exhibition will be opened by Dr. Christine Dauber PhD, B.A, B.A Honours [Art History] University of Queensland. I am thrilled about this. She has known of my work for many years and over this time has penetrated its essence. As she says, It must first be understood that Brimblecombe–Fox is not so much concerned with landscape painting per se, but in a Warburgian sense, searches for the universal connections, or common ground between people, races and religions. Thus, she uses the “tree of life” or “tree of knowledge” as a repetitive motif and in so doing, deploys its spiritual associations as a global referent.

The image I am using on the invitation and other promo material is the image above: ONE oil on linen 90 x 200 cm. I have previously written abut this painting on my BLOG. Here's the link
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/07/one.html

HOPE
I am working on a painting at the moment and my ideas have revolved around issues of water and rain plus what they represent at emotional and even spiritual levels. Regular readers will know that water is of great interest to me and that it has been a sub theme within my broader interests in perspective, distance and the space between the micro/local and macro/global. Overarching all of this is my compulsion to explore the potential of archetypes to perhaps reveal universal connections that mean something to us in the 21st century.

This new painting which I am currently working on, is essentially about hope. I am calling it 'Hope In The Distance' because it is at first glance a painting of strips of rain at the horizon. When I lived in Western Queensland, strips of rain would appear on distant horizons, often cruelly tantalising us with the potential for much needed rain. But, horizons, as metaphors for our lives cascade into so much possibility, because as I have written before, horizons can be both close and far. Our eyes, of eye ball and pupil, see horizons as existing in the far distance, but our eyes trick us, because we are essentially always present upon horizons which exist at all universal and nano distances around us. Our mind's eye can 'see' these multitudinous horizons so much clearer than our eye of eye ball and pupil, especially if we discard one dimensional and simple notions of distance and perspective.

I am reminded of a quote I used in my artist's statement for my show 'Distance' in London in 2002. The quote is from Walter Benjamin's Illuminations where he describes aura as, the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be. The word 'aura' has new age connotations, but I think, whether we know it or not, we are all searching for an experience and an understanding of aura. Maybe this is the unviversal search and that at each era, the agelessness of archetypal symbols offer clues to a discovery or a depended understanding of aura. We just have to keep investigating their potential. I think the investigation may require us to rely more on our mind's eye rather than always relying on our eye of eye ball and pupil...the two need to work together questioning everything.

My thoughts about multitudinous horizons have given me glimpses of the phenomenon of aura! These glimpses slip away as I try to grasp an understanding, but my hope is that as I discard old ways of 'seeing' I might come to a fuller experience of aura. Indeed, as we live locally in an increasingly globalised world, we are all actually forced to collapse notions of distant horizons, as we experience contemporary life. I suppose the hope is that the experience is understood as being potentially transforming in a positive way for all humanity.

Cheers,
Kathryn

PRESENCE

 The Presence Of Angels oil on linen 60 x 100 cm

I spend hours painting and I love it. What I love is that I can work at home, I don't have to dress up [in fact, I dress down *], I can take breaks to check emails or have a coffee and if a new idea pops into my head I can immediately sketch it, think about it and research any aspect of it. I get to imagine and even daydream knowing it is part of my 'job'! I love working alone!

But, my thoughts mean I am never alone. As I remember, fantasize, wonder, hope and imagine I am with others, its just that they're in my head! These 'others' can be people I know, love, would like to know, have read about and so on. I think about them in the context of feelings, what they have said, done and written or what they might say, do or write about. They or their activities are often the catalysts for my ideas. And, when I paint my much loved transcultural/religious tree of life my thoughts embrace the whole world and its humanity.

'The Presence Of Angels' [above] is an image which reveals clues and hints that Angels are present. I wanted to create an image which was suggestive rather than illustrative. I wanted to create an image where people would look for the clues and hints, and perhaps lead them to think about Angels as inspirations, impulses of thought and wonderings. I also like the idea that 'AH HA' instances, which I wrote about in my last post, are Angels knocking on our psyche to wake us up to change or the need for change.

As people look for clues and hints of Angels in this painting I like to think that this searching is done at both close and far distances. Viewers can move back and forth to see what this painting might disclose for them. The macro view may just reveal something which is not discernible when viewed up close and vice versa. Regular readers of my BLOG know that I am very interested in stimulating this kind of back and forth viewing of my paintings. Indeed, it is the way I create the image...I paint up close and then move to a distance to gauge with my eye, of eye ball and pupil, if the painting looks good and also if it has achieved what my mind's eye had envisioned in essence and aura.

This movement back and forth is a movement of perspective. It can be a literal perspective, but at another level the action could evolve into questioning our own perspectives of ourselves and others. As regular readers of my BLOG know, my interest in the macro and micro is really an interest in, and an investigation of, how to negotiate an increasingly globalised world in which we live locally. Maybe how we view art, and the resultant insights we may gain, gives us a way to find the new pathways...the new steps... we need to dance across the contemporary stage which exists between the local and global? If we learn these steps and become more flexibly adept at moving, or should I say sashaying, across the close and far distances of this stage, I'm sure new ideas, wonderings, compassions, understandings are [and give witness to] the presence of Angels.


*DRESSING DOWN
In the first paragraph above I mention I dress down to paint. I do look a sight! Well, on a busy day when I have to pick up children etc, I can change 3-4 times in the day, because venturing out in my painting clothes is not really acceptable. I call my painting clothes my 'eau de turps' clothes. Last week, though, I did decide to pick the children up from the train without changing. And, of course it was the one day when I subsequently did have to get out of the car. And, of course I ran into someone I knew, who did actually comment on the turps aroma. This plus the paint on my face caused my children to pray for the earth to swallow them up! My summer 'eau de turps' clothes are minimal because it gets just SO hot and humid in Brisbane. I wear a short indian cloth skirt which has a few holes in it and a sleeveless top with paint smeared all over it. In winter I wear my normal clothes underneath an excrutiatingly disgusting track dack suit. Needless to say I really enjoy dressing up when I go out...and needless to say I do not own or have the need for any power suits!


Cheers,
Kathryn

SEEPING INTO THE INTIMATE VASTNESS

Seeping Into The Intimate Vastness Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2008


On Wednesday of this week I made a presentation at the annual King's College Foundation business breakfast . King's is a men's residential college at the University of Queensland. http://www.kings.uq.edu.au/ I was able to choose my topic which was 'Perspective: In a Global World In Which We Live Locally'. I spoke about art's agency as catalyst for experiencing perspective or multi perspectives. I suggested that this is achieved by inviting the viewer to literally move back and forth [replicating the moves an artist makes], but also to stimulate conversation whether it be with others or internally with oneself. Conversation is a 'movement' back and forth as participants 'see' and hear another person's point of view, perspective or story.

I suggested that in this increasingly globalised world in which we live locally, it is imperative that we all appreciate the vast scope perspectival dexterity has in helping us negotiate this contemporary life. With this kind of dexterity comes compassion for ourselves and others.



Space and Time Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm 2001

The elments needed to develop perspectival dexterity are things like imagination, judgment, confidence, open mindedness, empathy. Yet, the one element I see as the most pivotal is imagination, because it is imagination which allows us to put ourselves in another person's shoes.
I quoted JK Rowling from her speech The Fringe Benefits of Failure And The Importance Of Imagination made in 2008 for the Harvard Alumni Association, ' ‘Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.’

In the same speech KJ Rowling also said, ' The willingly unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.’ I used this to augment the imperative we have to grasp skills which allow us all to live freely, fulfilled and compassionately in an increasingly global world in which we individually live locally. I suggested that those who cannot imagine how to embrace the contemporary 'stage' which exists between the 'wings' of the local and global are destined to see more monsters because fear grips them. One only has to think of the regimes [amongst others] in North Korea and Zimbabwe where unhealthy self interest and conscious ignorance of the world outside have created the kind of monstrous events and fears that have been and are indeed hard to imagine.

I have uploaded the two images above, one painted in 2001 and the other in 2008 because they are both about water. In my presentation at King's College I used my series on water [previously written about on this blog] to illustrate a couple of things. One was that water and its use are local and global issues and easily understood as such. The other is that water has the capability of being a vast mass yet also a drop, thus providing a living example of fluid connection between the micro/local and macro/global . Water can seep into the smallest and most intimate of spaces, but a deluge has a tipping point where is can become a saviour or a disaster. With all of this in mind our bodies are also %70 water.

Seeping Into The Intimate Vastness is an ambiguous 'landscape'. The tree-of-life seems to embrace or wrap the 'scene' with its vein like red branches. Its vascular-like appearance is 'Life' and indeed water systems, whether natural or manmade, are life giving. There is a general feeling of wetness and water about this painting. In the flesh it also has an almost 3d appearance as if things are swollen or sodden.

Space and Time painted in 2001 reveals an earlier interest in water. Sheets of red 'rain' fall from the sky on the edges of multiple horizons. I lived for many years in western Queensland where rain would tantalisingly appear at the edge of sight. This was particularly evident when driving west along lonely highways with the distance colliding with me and my car, but never reached.

TRUTH

The work on paper above is called 'Truth' and it part of my series on water which I have previously written about on this BLOG. It is an image of the Aral Sea, a saline lake located in Uzbekistan and Kazakstan, both previously part of the former Soviet Union. In 1960 the Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake, the size of Southern California. The blue mass on the left is the Aral Sea in 1989, the divided mass on the right is the sea in 2003.

In the past few decades there have been drastic changes brought about by agricultural and industrial activities. The Aral Sea's volume has deceased by 75% with its surface area by 50 percent. The shoreline has receeded up to 120 km from its former shore.

I have written text copied from Wikepedia which is 'the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.' The text comes from the entry on the Aral Sea. I have called the painting 'Truth' to comment on the veracity of information provided by internet sources such as Wikepedia and the increasing use of it as a source of information. The entry on the Aral Sea reads authoratively, but with so much information available today on the internet, how do we really know? The entry on the Aral Sea has changed since I painted this image earlier this year, which is in keeping with the Wikepedia philosophy.

Yet, satelite photographs of the Aral Sea reveal the truth that it has drastically diminished over a relatively short time. I found other photographs as well as those on Wikepedia. These amazing photographs, taken from a vast distance, hit you in the stomach with the visual information they provide. Written information about details does not have quite the same impact. However, the two together provide an imperative to do something about the situation.

This painting again deals with my interest in the macro and micro, global and local and our need to develop flexible perspective of ourselves and others. How can we move back and forth from a macro perspective to a micro perspective when we live locally in an increasingly globalised world? Indeed, is it possible to have both close and far perspectives simultaneously? How can we ensure healthy self interest [ie: local] benefits the whole world?


Truth Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2009

ANGELS' WINGS

I am very excited because I am one of the 30 finalists in the third LAUNCH: Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship Award which will be announced in early June. The award is co-ordinated by http://www.positive-solutions.com.au/

This means I am now waiting for the outcomes of three awards I have been selected for ie: The Prometheus and the Moreton Bay Art Awards as well.

Now to the image above. The trans-cultural/religious tree-of-life represents space, time and matter, Heaven and Earth. It intrigues me that system-like processes, seen and unseen, felt and not felt can connect the unconscious and conscious, the human and the spiritual. The exploration of these systems suggests the presence of other forces tantalizingly playing with the distance or space between closeness and farness questioning the existence of opposites and antimonies with the suggestion that these connections give rise to variations rather than separate entities or concepts.

So, as we negotiate contemporary life in the spaces between the macro and micro, global and local, vast and intimate we know that our potential exists within the chaos. Optimism is knowing that life's complexity and its chaotic presentation actually create the forces of survival.

To me the seeming chaos is like the flutter of angels' wings creating energy and thus potential. The trans-cultural/religious tree-of-life, its visceral branches, its constant movement in the air epitomises the essence of chaos's promise.

The Brush Of Angels' Wings oil on linen 53 x 97 cm, 2008