A NOT SO IMPOSSIBLE DREAM: A Short Story About Earth and The Universe.

On The Edge Gouache on paper 43.5 x 53.5 2001

On the edge of the Universe, watching and listening, a magnificent and graceful being ponders her production. The close and far distances of endless horizons wink and twinkle, erupt and explode before her. The cosmic energy reflects in her eyes of light. This entity, which will be called Mother Nature, feels each stroke and blast, stirring her endless life systems, compelling her continual potency. She watches as the Universe seemingly feeds itself in an endless cycle of cannibalistic consumption and growth. Not an orgy, but a gleeful desire to know itself in a ritual of constant self renewal.

The Quiet Fierceness Of Light Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm 2012

Ouroborus Oil on linen 122 x 153 cm 2012

Out of the corner of her eye Mother Nature spies a small planet in the Milky Way, a spiral galaxy of billions of stars and planets, situated within the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies. She's kept her eye on this particular planet for some time. Earth. It troubles her. The human beings which inhabit Earth have evolved over eons, but they are in trouble, which both upsets and angers Mother Nature. She had thought her modelling of cyclical consumption and renewal was clear and apparent for all to see. But, many Earthlings consume gluttonously without much thought of renewal. They are stuck, but even worse many do not look beyond immediate horizons to see, and be reflected in, the light of Mother Nature's wisdom. They have lost sight of their place within the cosmic tree-of-life matrix. They have lost connection.

Galaxial Landscape Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm 2010

This loss of perspective worries Mother Nature. She is concerned and feels compassion for those who do not see the light. She fans her furnace ensuring that the light shines brightly, willing Earthlings to attempt to look beyond, as their Ancients did. With constant use of so many gadgets and gizmos, and fashion's incessant seduction, Mother Nature has noticed that increasing numbers of Earthlings have reduced their line of sight to immediate and shallow distances of space and time. They cannot see the light.

Yet there is hope, there are some whose dexterous vision and imaginative powers enables them to quickly change their line of sight from close to far distances. There is even a small number whose sight, both literal and metaphoric, can see multi-perspectives simultaneously. Mother Nature knows this is a particularly handy tool to have in a Universe of so many dimensions. She knows because she is the essence of Universal perspective. She has watched as Earthling scientists have explored the close and far distances of the Universe. She has felt them too. They probe, explore, postulate, theorise, equate, argue, debate and vision. Mother Nature marvels at the scope of their wonder and application. She is proud.

Galactic Horizons and Beyond Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm 2012

She has also watched as science's companion, the arts, attempt to reconnect with the kind of awe and wonder demonstrated by science's marvelous dance with discovery. Somewhere and somehow, as slippery fashion and transient fads easily seduced those with diminished sight, this connection became weak and vulnerable. Mother Nature's wisdom and light, which she'd infused into age-old symbols for humanity's eternal inspiration and sustenance, were obscured. The tools and energy for symbolic articulation between the arts and sciences were seemingly lost. But, the 21st century has brought a glimmer of hope. Mother Nature has happily noticed that there is a strong and powerful calling... a song... a yearning to see the light and reconnect.

Mother Nature's not so impossible dream is that humanity, dancing with wonder and imagination in a shared rhythm across its planet and history, understands its place within the Universal close and far distances of time and space...and more. She knows that this understanding will provide humanity with an important perspective... that planet Earth is its only home, for the foreseeable, and most likely unforeseeable future. Looking after its home is humanity's sacred quest. Understanding its Universal environment is humanity's challenge. The arts and sciences are humanity's lungs. With each inhale and exhale they gift humanity knowledge, understanding, the light of wisdom and a way to vision.

On the edge of the Universe Mother Nature ponders her cosmic production. She wonders how all her other Universes are going. But, that's another story.

Eternity's Breath Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm 2012.

Multiverse Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm 2010

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COSMOLOGY

The doors to my next solo exhibition open Wednesday 30 January at 11 am.

Exhibition Dates: 30 January - 16 February.

PURGATORY ARTSPACE

170 Abbottsford St, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 

PH: 61 3 9329 1860

E: purgatoryartspace@gmail.com  

*Private Viewing/Meet The Artist Saturday 9 February 2-4pm

 Please check out my COSMOLOGY page HERE
 

Check out this article
Cosmology- Art as a Conduit Between Science and Humanity

 The paintings above,

Ouroboros, Galactic Horizons and Beyond and Eternity's Breath

will be in COSMOLOGY

Cheers,

Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox

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

 

 

 



MOTHER

Quiet Fierceness Of Light Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

Today has been Mothers' Day in Australia. A beautiful autumn day in Brisbane. Families out and about, breakfasting, lunching, out to dinner, picnics in the park. A great day. I have had a wonderul day, with breakfast out with my children, lovely presents, a heated discussion about someone's homework, an old school friend and her mate over for a drink. I phoned my own Mother this morning and had a long chat.

Regular readers will know that I often depict a figure of a woman in my paintings. She has been variously; Eve, Mother Earth, Mother Nature, the young bride in the landscape, me and you. I would suggest that in all cases she has actually been the personification of Spirit, the Sacred Feminine. As such, she is neither male nor female, but the essence of life which exists within us all, man and woman.

As Spirit or the Sacred Feminine, the female figure is illuminatory...she casts light at the same time as attracting it. She lights the way, but the journey also finds her. As she attracts the light it fills her, penetrating the intimate spaces of her soul, as she sheds light for humanity's guidance. As Light she is also Knowledge. For indeed, illumination reveals information, in its never-ending detail as well as in its broad glimpses of horizons beyond. These perspectives add to our knowledge of the world and us...and the universe/multiverse. It propels us. Please check out Colour of Knowledge for more of my thoughts. The painting Colour Of Knowledge is also below.

In this post I have uploaded some images of paintings where light and the female figure, representing her various incarnatons, 'speak' of the sacred feminine.

Please also check out my website 'Gallery' My Women 1990-Present

Seeking The Light Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

 In The Garden Of Eden Oil on linen 50 x 94 cm

"She was not made out of his head to surpass him, nor from his feet to be trampled on, but from his side to be equal to him, and near his heart to be dear to him." [Jamieson-Fausset Brown Bible Commentary] Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm

 The Colour Of Knowledge Oil on linen 62 x 82 cm

 Finding The Light oil on linen 100 x 70 cm

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

All A-QUIVER

Seeking The Light Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

The car is loaded, documents are prepared, screw driver, blu tac and other assorted bits and pieces are ready. QUIVER is ready to be hung. I am hanging the show tomorrow [Monday], and the doors open to the public on Tuesday.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

QUIVER is an exhibition of new paintings inspired by concepts of Mother Nature. Using the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol, I explore distance from the nano to the multiversal. In this distance where perspective, both literal and metaphoric, takes on multi layered dimensions, the quiver …tremble….vibration…of all life reminds us of the shared rhythmic pulse across time and space. 

In an age where environmental and sustainability issues battle with increasing energy needs, water viability and food production, re-examination of Mother Nature’s story, myth and symbolism may provide new perspectives which are not only Earth bound, but also directed to and from the cosmic world, at the same time as potentially penetrating quantum secrets.

In many of these new paintings I combine a figure of a woman, with the tree-of-life. The woman seems to dance across indeterminate spaces that seem both vast and intimate. Her limbs erupt with trees that seem to connect her to these spaces in ways that resonate viscerally. This connection suspends time as Mother Nature embodies the first impulse of life as well as its present and future continuance.

In other paintings I have combined the tree-of-life with other elements to 'ask' questions about how we 'value' our land, how we might discover new perspectives and how we might re-imagine our place within modern cosmology. How do we partner with Mother Nature to understand the spectrum of life from the quantum to the cosmic?

QUIVER

Graydon Gallery,

29 merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane, Australia

17 - 29 April

OPEN DAILY 10 am - 6 pm or by appointment

ANZAC DAY 12 noon - 6 pm

Please check out Carolyn McDowall's article in The Culture Concept.

Please check out a recent QUIVER post and my online gallery on my WEBSITE

Copies of my recently published book FOR EVERYONE: Words and Paintings will be available at QUIVER

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SEEKING THE LIGHT

Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

In this new painting [above] the female figure, representing Mother Nature, seems to attract light. He arms and feet erupt with vascular-like trees connecting her to whatever energy it is that propels life.  

This painting is one of three 36 x 36 cm paintings in QUIVER. The other two paintings are below.

 Out There Somewhere Oil on linen 36 x 36

The Beginning Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

I will upload photos of the show when it is hung!

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

COSMOLOGY

                                            Other Universes Gouache on paper15 x 21 cm

Regular readers will know of my interest in cosmology. As I research and think more about spacial and temporal distance and perspective, in terms of how the human race might 'see' itself and its environment, I get more and more excited about art's agency. This agency has catalytic potential to ignite our hearts and imaginations revealing how we may re-vision our innate links to, and identity with, the universe and the new scientific understandings of its enormous capacity.

As I have written previously, developing skills in seeing multi-perspectives, both literally and metaphorically, are of paramount importance as we live locally in an increasingly globalised world, but also in a world that is propelling itself into the extreme vastness of possible multi-universes, as well as the intimate vastness of the nano and beyond. Art's capacity to reveal new perspectives, stimulate new imaginings and to provide experiential opportunities opens possibilities for a cosmic compassion that embraces self, others and cosmic distances.

In my recent Ouroboros post  I mention husband and wife team Prof. Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams. Prof Primack is a Profesor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Nancy Abrams is a lawyer and has a BA in History and the Philosophy of Science. It is very exciting when you come across people who are passionate about the importance of visioning our place within the envirionment, not only our local and global ones, but also those beyond. They advocate for art's capacity to provide conduits between science and humanity's identity. Here is a quote from a 2001 paper Cosmology and 21st-Century Culture witten by Primack and Abrams.

All possibilities are still open because the meaning of this new cosmology is not implicit in the science. Scientific cosmology, unlike traditional cosmologies, makes no attempt to link the story of the cosmos to how human beings should behave. It is the job of scholars, artists, and other creative people to try to understand the scientific picture and to perceive and express human meanings in it.^‡ A living cosmology for 21st-century culture will emerge when the scientific nature of the universe becomes enlightening for human beings.

Please visit the Primack/Abrams website I am defnitely buying their book 'The Universe and The Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World'.

                                              Ouroboros Oil on linen 122 x 153 cm
                             Ouroboros will be in my forthcoming exhibition QUIVER

With an expanded view of our environment, as a cosmic one, it is likely that as new perspectives are revealed we not only realise the extreme importance of our actions, but also may discover new ways of nurturing our immediate home, Earth. Indeed, as I have written before, new and multiple perspectives, possibly seen simultaneously, hold the potential to stimulate questions we have previously not thought to ask, thus potentially providing answers we did not know existed. This dialogue fosters new and more confident interpretations of our place within the cosmos.

                                               Cosmic Dust Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

Regular readers will be aware of what I call my 'quiet activist' work, particularly commenting on the hasty expansion of the open cut mining and coal seam gas extraction in Australia. Whilst these paintings that focus on particular issues are more obviously political, I believe any art which suggests new perspectives that provoke questions which may ultimately provide answers that cause change, are also political in the broadest sense. I also believe that any art, with a grasp of beauty's power to provide hope, is political. Regular readers will know I have written about beauty many times before.

                                                   The Beauty Of Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm
There are many environmental and sustainability issues confronting us in the 21st century. The following quote by Primack and Abrams in the Introduction to 'The Universe and The Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World', which is online at
http://new-universe.org/Excerpts.html , is a sobering reminder of humankind's potential for either good or bad.

Earth is incredibly special, more so than anyone imagined before recent discoveries of hundreds of other planets orbiting nearby stars. And our era is an incredibly special moment even on a timescale of billions of years: we are the first species that has evolved with the capability to destroy our planet. Will we do so? Or will we successfully negotiate over the next two generations a transition from exponential growth in environmentally harmful activities to a sustainable relationship to this remarkable planet, the only hospitable place for creatures like us in the explored universe? The answer could affect not only humanity but the entire future of intelligence in the ultimately visible universe.

                                       Murray Darling Currency Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm
                    Murray Darling Currency will be in my forthcoming exhibition QUIVER

And, of course Lord Martin Rees's book 'Our Final Century' poses many questions and warnings about humankind's potential to not survive the 21st century. Here is a quote I have placed on this BLOG a couple of times:

It may not be absurd hyperbole—indeed, it may not even be an overstatement—to assert that the most crucial location in space and time (apart from the big bang itself) could be here and now. I think the odds are no better than fifty-fifty that our present civilisation on Earth will survive to the end of the present century. Our choices and actions could ensure the perpetual future of life (not just on Earth, but perhaps far beyond it, too). Or in contrast, through malign intent, or through misadventure, twenty-first century technology could jeopardise life’s potential, foreclosing its human and posthuman future. What happens here on Earth, in this century, could conceivably make the difference between a near eternity filled with ever more complex and subtle forms of life and one filled with nothing but base matter.Martin Rees, Our Final Hour: A Scientist’s Warning: How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind’s Future in This Century—On Earth and Beyond (New York: Basic Books, 2003) p.7-8

Now, this all brings me to my forthcoming exhibition QUIVER. It is an exhibition exploring notions of Mother Nature. My previous post, with a glimpse of some of the paintings, is HERE The following is an extract from my artist's statement.

In an age where environmental and sustainability issues battle with increasing energy needs, water viability and food production, re-examination of Mother Nature’s story, myth and symbolism may provide new perspectives which are not only Earth bound, but also directed to and from the cosmic world. 

You will notice in the painting Mother Nature [below] that the female figure, representing Mother Nature, seems to fly knowingly and confidently in an expanse that can be interpreted as outer space, or perhaps the inner reaches of the nano world. She is everywhere, she is Us.

                            Mother Nature Gouache on paper 52 x 63 cm framed                                           Mother Nature will be in QUIVER

Pleae check out this new article by Carolyn McDowall in her online Culture Concept. it is an article about QUIVER 
QUIVER 17 -29 April
Graydon Gallery, 29 Merthyr Rd, new Farm, brisbane, Australia.
Open daily 10 am - 6 pm
More details HERE

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

QUIVER Exhibition

At The Fiery Gate Gouache on paper 52 x 63 cm [framed]
Click HERE to read more

In just under a month

my solo exhibition: 

QUIVER

Dates Tuesday 17 - Sunday 29 April

Open Daily 10 am - 6 pm or by appointment.

My website QUIVER GALLERY
Graydon Gallery, 29 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane, Australia.

In this post I've uploaded a small selection of paintings which will be in QUIVER

Mother Nature Gouache on paper 52 x 63 cm [framed]

Click HERE for more on Mother Nature

QUIVER is an exhibition of new paintings inspired by concepts of Mother Nature. Using the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol, I explore distance from the nano to the multiversal. In this distance where perspective, both literal and metaphoric, takes on multi layered dimensions, the quiver …tremble….vibration…of all life reminds us of the shared rhythmic pulse across time and space. 

In an age where environmental and sustainability issues battle with increasing energy needs, water viability and food production, re-examination of Mother Nature’s story, myth and symbolism may provide new perspectives which are not only Earth bound, but also directed to and from the cosmic world. 

Firmament Gouache on paper 52 x 63 cm [framed]

Click HERE for more on Firmament

Close and Fat Distance Oil on linen 80 x 150 cm

Click HERE for more on Close and Far Distance

 

Elemental Dance Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm

Click HERE for more on Elemental Dance

Sap Of Life Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm

Click HERE for more on Sap Of Life

 

The Beginning Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

Click HERE for more on The Beginning

Becoming The Light Oil on linen 160 x 120 cm

Quiet Fierceness Of Light Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

Click HERE for more on Quiet Fierceness Of Light

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My book

FOR EVERYONE: Words and Paintings

will be available at

QUIVER

Please visit For Everyone's Page to read testimonials, see some images,

and links to online buying sites.

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

I have a few projects in stream at the mment. Shall keep you up to date!

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

THE BEGINNING

UPDATE ON MY BOOK FOR EVERYONE

My exhibition 'For Everyone' at FireWorks Gallery comes down today. It is the exhibition of the thirty original paintings inside my book For Everyone: Words and Paintings. Check out my previous post for photos of the book launch last week. I've sold a heap of books! In fact, I've had a few people return, after buying one book, to then buy another 4-5 of them! And, I have sold a few paintings too. Feeling very happy.

For Everyone: Words and Paintings is available on many online bookselling sites and at both bookstores at the Queensland Art Gallery and GOMA. Check out HERE for links to buying sites.

A SURPRISE ACCOLADE

Two days ago I received a surprise notification from BLOGGERS.COM that my BLOG was one of 'Editors' Pick of the Day'. Each day they choose three BLOGs to mention!

The Beginning Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

THE BEGINNING

Regular readers will recognise my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life motif in this new painting 'The Beginning'. I wanted to create an image which evoked the essence of the beginning of everything, the BIG BANG...or whatever it was that ignited life throughout the Universe or even the Multiverse. I also wanted to create an image that 'spoke' of the beginning of life inside the womb. The instant of conception, leading to the unfolding complexity of new life.

Regular readers will indentify my interest in exploring how the intimate is connected to the vast and vice versa...how by collapsing perspective distance seems to disappear. This disappearance reveals humankind's coupling with the forces of the Universe/Multiverse.

The two trees seem to mirror each other, yet they are not the same. Whilst they seem to perhaps represent concepts of duality, they pose questions, stimulated by collapsed perspective, about the links between the seemingly opposite. An earlier painting called 'Duality' also poses these questions, with a similar placement of mirrored trees.

NO REST FOR THE WICKED!

Well, I am not really wicked! But, there's no rest for me! Book launch over and now onto....

My next solo exhibition of new work is QUIVER
At Graydon Gallery, New Farm, Brisbane
17-29 April 2012.
Open daily 10 am - 6 pm

QUIVER STATEMENT

QUIVER is an exhibition of new paintings inspired by concepts of Mother Nature. Using the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol, I explore distance from the nano to the multiversal. In this distance where perspective, both literal and metaphoric, takes on multi layered dimensions, the quiver …tremble….vibration…of all life reminds us of the shared rhythmic pulse across time and space. 

'The Beginning' will be in QUIVER.

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

THE MOON

Memory Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2002
Memory Previous Post

I am working on a new painting...an 'everything landscape'. But, whilst I have been working, thinking, sitting and standing in front of my easel, I realised that over the years the moon has been a significant inspiration. As reguler readers know, the cosmos inspires me...not just the literal one out there in space, but also the metaphoric one within our psyches.

So I decided to upload a selection of my paintings where the moon appears. And, as I went through my files I realised that whilst the moon represents time and cycles it also anchors me to my childhood... or rather it stirs my inner child through memory. Indeed, the painting above is called Memory. Childhood memories were also the stimulus for the painting below When I Was A Child I Dreamt I could Fly.

In both paintings the phases of the moon orientate the figures in time and space. Time's dance of infinite cyclical movements, stirs the universal memory. I am reminded of a recent post Elemental Dance where I mention the Whirling Dervishes. Their mesmerising, and trance inducing, whirling movement seems to condense the universal/multiversal cycles of life to a persistently contemporary beauty which reminds us of life's propulsion. Like a vortex the Dervishes suspend time linking all experience.

When I Was A Child I Dreamt I Could Fly Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2003

When I Was A Child I Dreamt I Could Fly Previous Post

The painting below The Flat And Fanstastic Horizon is also grounded in memories of my childhood growing up on the flat treeless Pirrinuan Plain outside Dalby, in S.E Queensland Australia. The whole painting is created with a cascade of tree-of-life symbols. The full moon forms a portal-like presence in the night sky.

I have previously written about my Grandmother, who had a great interest in astronomy. She tried to teach me and my two brothers to identify certain stars and the constellations. Apart from my Grandmother's cosmological interests, the night sky of my childhood could not be ignored. On a clear night the Milky Way was like a swathe of glistening fabric flung across the heavens. The glistening was not dulled by any ambiant lighting from cities or major settlements. The stars and the moon glowed fulsomely and elegantly.

This takes me to another painting, a more recent one to The Flat And Fanstastic Horizon. In fact, only since starting this post have a I realised the connection between the two paintings. The second one is The Beginning Of Everything  [It is below The Flat And Fanstastic Horizon.] Please read my previous post where I write in more detail about my grandmother and the landscape of my childhood.

In 1969 when man first walked on the moon, my parents, particularly my Father, insisted my brothers and I stayed home from school to watch the landing on TV. I still remember the grainy black, white and grey images.

The Flat And Fanstastic Horizon Oil on canvas 100 x 120 cm 2006

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

The Beginning of Everything previous post

In Unison Oil on linen 92 x 208 cm 2006

In Unison previous post

I did not write much about In Unison in my previous post but regular readers will identify my inspirations. And, there's the moon reminding us of cyclic rythms over time. This painting was sold to a collector in Korea.

Meeting Place Of The Mind Oil on linen 100 x 70 cm 2011

Meeting Place of The Mind previous post

In Meeting Place Of The Mind the morphed male/female figure, synaptic in its connective qualities, is hooked into the universal/mulitversal tune. The phases of the moon are watchful as they shed their varying nuances of light on generative impulses. The moon is more commonly thought of as a symbol of feminine power, with the sun symbolising masculine power. However, there are exceptions in some cultures [some African and American Indian tribes, in Japanese, Maori and some Oceanic symbolism where the moon has a masculine fertilising symbolism]. When I read this I thought of Meeting Place of The Mind where 'mind' is neither male nor female, but a force where life's compulsions become one.

Mother Nature Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2011

Previous post

In Mother Nature [above] the female figure, representing Mother Nature, seems partnered with the moon. In this case the moon is a symbol of feminine power. The fulsome light of the moon is reflected in the curves of Mother Nature's womanly body and the vascular/placenta-like branches erupting from her feet. The moon's light reveals Mother Nature' aura, shared with all existence.

Sap Of Life Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm

Sap Of Life previous post

Sap of Life essentially refers to water, the sap of life. As in Meeting Place of The Mind the female figure represents Mother Earth, her aura reflected in the moon's nuanced light. The feminine power to give life with a fertility that flows in an eternity of cycles dances along with the universal song, waxing and waning in timbre. Please read my previous post here

BOOK LAUNCH AND TESTIMONIALS

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

BLOGS/SITES OF INTEREST

Here are a few blogs/sites I think are interesting. It's a broad array!

EVERYBODY MEANS SOMETHING

WOLF ART + WORDS

DUCKSMAHAL

MONEYTHOUGHTS

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SYMBIARTIC

QUILTOPIA DESIGN

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com