Stormy Weather: Where? Oil on linen 120 x 150 cm 2013
Recently I have been painting lightning, storms, rain...the weather. But, is it Earth's weather or is it from somewhere else? My answer; up to you! Is it literal or metaphoric weather...or both? My answer is both. 'Storms' brew within us, deep inside our emotions, our psyches. Sometimes they are small skirmishes, sometimes they are wild and apocalyptic. Storms, whether literal or not, urge...beg...for change to happen.
Here in Brisbane, late last year, we experienced some wild storms, showcasing nature's elements of wind, rain, lightning, dark clouds, hail and more. I painted a couple of paintings inspired by these stormy experiences which also triggered memories of storms across the flat black soil plain of my childhood home. Please check out
STORM and
NIGHT TIME ELECTRIC STORM
In more recent weeks Australia has been burning. Bush fires dot the country, threatening homes, businesses, livestock, natural flora and fauna and more. There are many reports of ferocious flames licking skies and fire fronts bellowed by hot winds. Many farmers lament the difficulties in gaining licenses to back burn abundant, but dried off, fuel across bush and grass lands. Back burning during cooler months, particularly after good wet seasons which produce glorious growth, is something farmers have historically undertaken with care. The Aborigines also back/controlled burned for eons. Check out
this article and
this article as introductions to the burn off debate.
The drastic and sad thing is....a number of the recent fires have been ignited by lighting strikes. During wild and windy, but rain-less storms, lightning can easily ignite dried off vegetation and bush detritus. The ensuing change is dramatic and fierce.
STORMY WEATHER: WHERE?
I put the
WHERE? in the title to provoke questions. Some may ask, 'Is the storm in Queensland?' or 'Is it a storm out west? Others may ask, 'Kathryn, what planet are you on with this one?' Yet, how many would ask questions about the psyche? What emotional 'storms' affect you as an individual? What 'storms' affect humanity as a whole? Paradigm shifting...maybe?!
I suggest that all these questions [and more] and their many answers, mediate assumed notions of what 'landscape' really is. Please check out my previous post
WHEN IT RAINED ON MARS? and
UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE: REVOLUTIONARY?
In a recent conversation my brother
Wilfred Brimblecombe also suggested to me that the human body, from cells to organs, is a mass of ongoing 'storms'...impulses, surges, energy bursts, thumping and pumping...even while we sleep. Indeed, the 'cosmos' within propels us in life, in a dance with the cosmos beyond. Please check out previous post
BODY AS SITE
In STORMY WEATHER: WHERE? a flash of lighting lights up a dark and turbulent night sky. The lightning strikes the ground emitting a red potency through the 'landscape'. In the distance, on the right, a strip of rain falls. This rain is red, like blood...like fire...life giving and renewing. On the left a small red tree rises from the potent vein. Regular readers will identify the tree as my much loved age-old trans-cultural/religious tree-of-life. For me this symbol 'speaks' of all life throughout all history...and that includes pre and post human history...beyond humanity's collective egocentric reach.
In the aftermath of fire, rain falls, small seedlings emerge...life.
COSMOLOGY
@ Purgatory Artspace
Exhibition 30 January - 16 February
I have created a COSMOLOGY page: It has all the details and more images
My paintings for COSMOLOGY left this morning. They are on their way to Melbourne.
Packed paintings for COSMOLOGY ready to go to Melbourne
SUMMER IN BRISBANE
For readers who have never been to Brisbane I found this BLOG which features a post
'Sub Tropical Summer' of photographs showcasing our glorious colour, vegetation, skies and more.
TASMANIAN HOLIDAY ANYONE?
Friends of mine own and run
Bicheno By The Bay holiday resort. Bicheno was very close to the devastating fires that blazed through Tasmania last week. Thankfully the small seaside town avoided the firestorm. If you want a lovely, low key, natural, relaxed holiday think of
Bicheno By The Bay. I plan to get down there sometime this summer or next. One of my children has been there twice and loves it. Below is a photo of the resort taken from the air. Looks great don't you think!!!!
Cheers,
Kathryn
