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

HOVERING

Hovering At The Centre Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm

This painting above is a small 30 x 30 cm work. It was inspired by thoughts of vortexes, stillness, possibility and the potency of the archetypal tree-of-life symbol. I am reading another book by the Lord Astonomer, Martin Rees. This book 'Just Six Numbers' is entirely layperson readable, just like his book 'Our Final Century', which I have written about previously. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/04/idea-sketches.html   http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/presence.html

Well, a few things have got me excited. One is that prior to reading 'Just Six Numbers' I was pondering the phenomena of the vortex, literally as well as metaphorically. Regular readers will have read some of my 'vortex' posts. Rees writes about spirals and vortexes in cosmology eg: galaxies. Another source of excitement is Rees's chapter 'Primordial 'Ripples'. I was reading in bed a few nights ago, with my eyes falling out of their sockets due to tiredness, and I started to read the chapter and laughed.  It transfixed me, because prior to reading all about primoridal ripples, I painted 'Cosmic Frisson', which was inspired by ideas of ripples. I even called a recent post 'Ripples'. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/ripples.html   http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/08/cosmic-frisson.html

So, back the painting above...Hovering At The Centre. I wanted to leave some space, because so many of my paintings are full of vast textures which only suggest space as a dimension beyond the surface. I wanted to create an image that included a sense of empty space, simultaneously vast and minute, like a portal or a vortex/spiral core. I wanted to create a sense of finding stillness, a place of possibility, alluding to a complexity that, whilst not understood can be sentiently felt, thus asking us to have faith.

At one level Hovering At The Centre is inspired by Rees's words, 'Most galaxies harbour a central hole as massive as millions of stars.' These central holes are 'black holes'. They defy explanation, but are discernible by scrutinising external forces such as gravity and light. But, this is where an artist's imagination is triggered. For me, my painting portrays a sense of life surrounding the 'black hole'. This is indicated by the tree-of-life motif, which suggests celestial systems finely balanced to stimulate the continuing expansion of the Universe. The tree-of-life is also gravity which stops the Universe imploding into black holes and perhaps surrending existence.

In Hovering At The Centre the circle or hole is like a portal, embraced securely by the tree-of-life. So, entering the portal may not be too bad, because it might be like being inside a big hug [worse case...a crushing hug!]! Portals are metaphors for choice, other dimensions, crossorads in life. Portals, do not have templates to follow, otherwise they'd not be portals, but merely glass doors through which we could see. Portals are not understood by criteria or agendas. If we ascribed these things to portals we limit ourselves and the potential opportunities offered by the unknown. Portals compel us to dream and imagine, and criteria and agendas are not good bedfellows.

Here is a link to another painting where I 'speak' about portals. The painting is called 'AH HAs' and sold at my exhibition FRISSON in March. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/02/ah-ahs.html

NEWS

My painting 'Halo' is one of  the 70 finalists for the 2010 Tattersall's $20,000 Art Prize, Brisbane. This year the prize is by invitation, so I am very excited to have been chosen as one of the exhibiting artists. The exhibition opens Wednesday 8 September.

On October 8 a rather interesting curated exhibition BAware will open at St. John's Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane. The exhibition is themed to the Millenium Goals to raise awarenss of gloabl issues of social justice, poverty and sustainability. I will have between 3 and 5 paintings in this exhibition. I will post updates over the next weeks leading up to the exhibition.

Until next time,

Kathryn

COSMIC FRISSON

                                         Cosmic Frisson oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

This is the painting I was working on when I wrote my recent BLOG post 'Ripples' http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/ripples.html  Yes, it is finished!

I wrote in 'Ripples' that I wanted to create a painting which seemed to ripple, at one instance appearing to reveal something and at the next swathing it under swift and repetitive movements. This  painting could be a landscape of the Earth in the cosmos, her outer protective atmosphere meeting the sun blessed sky space, creating a frisson between multiple dimensions. Yet, the cluster of rounded shapes could be a cluster of space presences, from planets to particles of dust, saluting a sun star many light years from ours.

I have used my tree-of -life/knowledge motif to create the planetary shape, but beneath the rippling-like branches, glimpses of other forces can be seen. These same forces are glimpsed through the sun's felt presence within the sky space. The cosmos teases and tantalises us with its secrets, by revealing its inner essence languidly.

Without the teasing and tantalising would we question? Would we be curious? The search and acquisition of knowledge survives and thrives on the stimulation and seduction of glimpsed secrets.

I have used the tree-of-life/knowledge to suggest that 'life' lies beyond our planetry existence. It may not be life like we know it, but as the Universe continues to expand, its propulsion is the potential. I am so glad the Universe and the sub-atomic, and the simultaneously expanding and decreasing space and distance between them, are complex. Complexity means there are forces, whilst we may not understand or be aware of them, that keep life's processes operating. My faith lies in the complexity that holds the questions we have not thought to ask and the answers we don't even know exist yet. Now that's frisson!

Regular readers would know that my solo exhibition in March here in brisbane was called Frisson. Here is a link to a previous post http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/feeling-frisson.html

Until next time,
Kathryn

SALT

Salination Gouache on paper 14.8 x 21 cm

Salt Eternal Gouache on paper 17.8 x 25.4 cm

                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Regular readers of this BLOG will know of my interest in water. I have previously written about my thoughts on water, its literal use and its capacity to be a metaphor for life, akin to my much loved tree-of-life/knowledge motif. I grew up on my parent's grain farm just outside Dalby on the rich Darling Downs, in SE Queensland, Australia. In the last 5 years the area, once known for it farming and livestock agricultural production, is now hitting the headlines for its burgeoning mining industry with open cut coal mines and coal seam gas extraction [CSG].

This link is a previous post about water. It has other links to other posts as well. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/shift.html

One of the by-products of CSG is 'waste water' which is salty. During gas extraction processes this water flows from deep underground, from the aquifers that make up the Great Artesian Basin which straddles Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Here's a link to a picture of it. http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/groundwater/img/map.gif Sustaining this huge resource is of paramount importance for a number of reasons. These include maintaining reliable drinking water sources for livestock, some rural townships' needs, ensuring water tables are maintained to avoid soil salination and so on.

The CSG 'waste water' is stored in water storages ie: dams. However, there is controversy over how to deal with the high salt content, as the water cannot be used for most agricultural and domestic needs. Salt does not go away. Interestingly the symbolism of salt is twofold. It symbolises eternity, endurance. It also symbolises aridness, suffering and barrenness. Put these two together and the result is eternal barrenness. Salination of soils is an environmental disaster to be clearly avoided.

This takes me to the question of risk. What kind of risks are governments, enterprise...indeed all of us... willing to take when questions of environmental vulnerability and threats to future food production for an increasing population are asked but no-one seems to be able to answer in a way which demonstrates that risk analysis has been completely examined. It is one thing to ascertain and take risks if subsequent action only affects the person or enterprise making the decision. But, it is another thing altogether if risk or potential risk may affect not only the decider, but others not only now but into the future.  

So, to my paintings above. These two small works on paper are the results of my ponderings on the risk of salt to our environment. Obviously I am focussing on the district of my childhood, but soil salination is a global problem in terms of environmental issues and future food producing needs.

Here are some links to articles about the CSG issue.

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2721216.htm

http://www.smh.com.au/business/farmers-wonder-if-lng-is-worth-its-salt-20100207-nkvr.html

http://www.dip.qld.gov.au/statewide-planning/queensland-coal-seam-gas-water-management-policy.html

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201004/s2870101.htm

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/angry-protesters-demand-independent-industry-review-into-science-behind-coal-seam-gas/story-e6freoof-1225896737166

Please have a look at this site too

http://www.coal4breakfast.com.au/page10.htm  

Until next time.

Kathryn

RIPPLES

Detail of as yet untitled painting in progress

                                                Detail of as yet untitled painting in progress

The two images above are details from the painting I am currently working on. The painting is 90 x 200 cm, so quite large. I am aiming to create an image which seems to ripple, beguiling the viewer, and then seducing even further with a realisation that the ripples mesmerisingly seem to be concealing something underneath. You know what it's like when water ripples, yet you know there is something underneath, but you can't quite see. Regular readers will realise that the literal nature of this is not my primary interest. I will write more on this once the painting is finished.

I wanted to also create an image that gripped the viewer by seducing them to come closer, but also to move back to view the entire image from a distance. A bit like an astonomer looking into the night sky with a naked eye, and a mind full of awe, and then feeling compelled to examine the sky with the help of a telescope, to somehow get 'closer' to the swathes and twinkles of light.

The painting, as yet untitled, could be described as a landscape, but one which is not tethered to just the Earth, but is free to be interpreted as a 'landscape' of the Universe or a 'landscape' of our internal emotional world. Regular readers will immediately identify that this painting is another of my visual investigations of the dynamic that exists in and between the nano and vast, the micro and macro.

But, I will write more when the painting is finished!

But, now to some news.
The two paintings below have been sold! A new dental practice 'Icon Dental' has bought them and they will hang in the reception area. This new practice is in Yeppoon.

One Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2009

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/07/one.html

                                                        Frisson Oil on linen 74 x 147 cm 2010
                                         http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/feeling-frisson.html


Cheers Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

COMPASSION

                                           Compassion Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm

I have been pondering the painting above...yes, while I was painting it [of course!] but also when I have been driving my car, before I go to sleep at night, as I have been eating a meal, and last night even my dreams were preoccupied with it. As I ponder, the painting seems to grow beyond its boundaries. I wanted to create an image which 'spoke' of compassion, in a similar way that my ealier painting Love 'spoke' of love. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/love.html

I really enjoyed painting both Love and Compassion and could feel an emotional essence transferring to, and then from, each painting. Regular readers would know that I have written about compassion previously. Indeed, I have a post in 2008 called 'Compassion' http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/08/compassion.html

Compassion, to me, is more sustainable than sympathy, which relies on a relationship of giver and receiver, thus a heirarchy. Sympathy certainly has its place, particularly after a disaster. But, ongoing sympathy, given and received, allows for an emotional colonisation process that can lead to power plays. Compassion is a more equal dynamic, where differences as well as similarities are acknowledged, and where, with imagination, each party can place themselves in another's shoes. Compassion is about negotiating distances of perception and perspective, to a point where, with the help of imagination, a person can move back and forth between how they see themselves, how others may see them and how others see themselves and so on.
With Compassion I wanted to suggest a meeting of difference, which obviously has underlying basic similarities. So, I used my transcultural/religious tree-of-life/knowledge, one a dark purple and the other a dark green. As the two trees' branches move closer the colour softens, until they meet in a light pink, which seems to pulse. Small dots, yellow on the left and sky blue on the right, fill the spaces between the trees' branches. Again, the colours soften as they move closer together, until the meet in a frisson of white [light].

Difference is signified in the different colours of the two trees and small dots. However, basic similarities are 'held' within the symbolism of the tree-of-life. For me these are those things which signal life ie: heart beat, breath, as well as the urge for identity and shared stories across religions and cultures over time. The trees' branches suggest a vascular, system-like quality which is augmented by the dots, giving the circular shape a sense of movement, even a pulse.

The circle indicates continuity of life, eternity, time, humankind memory. Yet, the image may be a cross- section of something even more dynamic such as a spiral. If this is the case the past and future are contained within the image...our souls' immortality perhaps? I also wanted to create an impression of a halo hovering in the endless space of the universe. After all, halos hover above those that are perceived to be holy, and thus presumably compassionate. Halos also have connotations of light, as in the light of God. When the two trees meet in a pulse of white light compassion evolves into an expression which is much larger than the moment or place. This is the power of spirit.

The wreath-like appearance of the circle of trees evokes the compassion felt during memorial services, particularly for fallen soldiers. Indeed, compassion contains gratefulness whether it be for soldiers who gave their lives for us, or for important religious characters, such as Christ, who gave his life for humanity.
Compassion, rather than sympathy, has the capacity to affect the world in positive ways. It is sustainable because it it not hard work. It really only requires an urge and imagination.

ADDED APRIL 2011
This painting was in my exhibition VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core in February 2011. A visitor to the show brought in a pair of 3D glasses. Once I put on the glasses, many of my paintings immediately separated into multiple layers which I felt could be touched and traversed. 'Compassion' took on a spiral like impression, as if part of the circle receeded and continued back into the painting. I was thrilled! When I wrote the earlier post above I said, 'The circle indicates continuity of life, eternity, time, humankind memory. Yet, the image may be a cross- section of something even more dynamic such as a spiral. If this is the case the past and future are contained within the image...our souls' immortality perhaps?'
I wrote about the 3D glasses in a post after the exhibition. Here's the link http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/03/3d.html

Kathryn  http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/

FINDING

                                               Finding The Light Oil on linen 100 x 70 cm

This is the painting I have been working on for weeks. I uploaded some work-in-progress detail photos in a recent post. Regular readers will notice that I am continuing with ideas I have explored in some recent works on paper. These ideas revolve around my imaginings of what it would be like inside a vortex. So...away from the turmoil of the twisting and turning of the outer vortex to what I imagine is a central core place of stillness and quiet. BUT...not a the kind of stillness and quiet of merely an absence of noise and activity. I imagine a stillness and quiet sentiently replete with an energy that does not express in a manner we are used to.  This energy, I imagine, is the total of all energy from the nano to the universal, thus seemingly immeasurable, but somehow understood. I am also imagining that inside the vortex the collapse of line of sight perspective is complete with a realisation that all perspectives/distances can be experienced simultaneously. Regular readers know that this 'collapse' is something I have written about a number of times.

I have used my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life to envelop the woman positioned inside a vortex. I have tried to depict a sense that the vortex core is an immensity beyond the understanding of the physical world from whence it spiralled into being. I have been reading about the black holes which exist at the centre of spiralling galaxies. Now, these are interesting, but as an artist the more I read the more I imagine what it might be like inside the black hole core of our galaxy and others. Hence I have called this painting 'Finding The Light', because it implies a search which results in discovery. 'Light' can represent knowledge, discovery. It can also represent faith. It can represent the Divine. It can represent finding oneself. Coupled with the tree-of-life/knowledge it can represent LIFE.

I have created the 'light' with the small dots which cascade over the woman inside the vortex. This 'light' spills into the trees like veins pulsing through life's membranes.

So, whilst this painting is a depiction of what I imagine it to be like inside a vortex, the vortex does not need to be an external phenomena. The concept of a vortex within us, within our psyche when we seem to be spiralling with emotional and psychological issues is also interesting. This psychological place of emotional turmoil where we seem to be swept away in a spiralling cacophone can be stripped away to find the core where sabotaging subconscious beliefs can be irradicated with stillness.

I like the way the red lines of the vortex and the trees literally remind us of the flow of blood within our bodies. This corporeality is, in a sense, mirrored in the outer physical world. But, does it hint at the substance and system of worlds yet unknown?

In 'Finding The Light' I wanted to play with the tree-of-life/knowledge, so I deliberately painted upside down trees 'growing' from trees that are upright. For me, this symbolises balance. It also helped me find a way to suggest that the space inside the vortex is immeasurable. The yellow and red 'leaves' fall from their trees, the yellow upwards and the red downwards. Falling leaves suggest a renewal and in this painting simultaneous connections with Earth and Heaven, with all perspectives and distances.

I could write more, but I will leave it up to you now... to imagine.

Here are some links to other galaxial, stillness type posts!
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/06/galaxial.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/06/addicted-to-surprise.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/06/stillness.html

Here is a link to 'Becoming' which is another painting of a female figure and trees. This painting sold in my recent exhibition 'Frisson'.
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/02/becoming.html
Cheers,
Kathryn

MEMORY LANE

I am still working on a painting, hours per day...and it is progressing. I wrote about it in a recent post and also placed an image of a detail. However, the cold damp weather, we are having here in Brisbane, means the paint is not drying as quickly as I'd like. So I can't over paint where I want to.

In the meantime I thought I'd take a journey down memory lane...snippets from my art past! So, no paintings, but just newsy type photos.

MEETING THE QUEEN
The photograph above is of me meeting Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11 at Queensland's Government House in early 1977. I won the senior section a state wide art competition for young people. And, the prize was to meet the Queen! Unfortunately, this was before the days of digital cameras and 1000s of photos, so I only have this one of me meeting the Queen...but her back it to the viewer. My painting is the one on the top left. The Queen had chosen the theme for the competition, which was 'The Family'.

The head mistress at my boarding school was a bit upset that I did not wear the school uniform. However, I entered the competition on my own during the Christmas school holidays, and I thought the school really should not have a say in what I wore. So sweet teenager that I was, I insisted on wearing bright red, my very frizzy long hair out and high heeled sandals. The latter elevated me to well over 180 cm tall [I am already and was already height endowed!]. So, I towered over the Queen and felt quite ludicrous...but also very excited. Out of sight are about 80 photographers and the winners' parents, who also got to meet the Queen

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

The photo above is me again, not meeting a famous person, but eyeballing a Monet Waterlilly painting. This was taken in 1981 when I worked at the National Gallery in Canberra.

LONDON 2002

The three photos above are from my solo show Distance in London in 2002. This was a very exciting exhibition with the Deputy Australian High Commissioner opening the show for me. The gallery was packed with people I knew, my friends knew, gallery list, people I met in the street!

DUBAI 2004

Australian Ambassador His Excellency Noel Campbell and his wife with me at my opening in Dubai 2004

Making my speech at the opeing in Dubai 2004.

The three photos above are from my solo exhibition in Dubai in 2004. I loved being in Dubai and I have made a number of subsequent visits. The Australian Ambassador His Excellency Noel Campbell opened the exhibition for me. This was a wonderful gesture.

ABU DHABI 2005

                                   

The three images above are from my solo show at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation in 2005. I was very pleased to have the then Queensland Minister for Education and The Arts, Hon. Rod Welford to open the exhibition. The Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation was wonderful providing me with an excellent opening event...even a ribbon to be cut. My daughter was given the task of holding the cushion which the scissors were placed upon.

My Abu Dhabi exhibition, and the whole experience of talking with people from all over the region, has profoundly influenced my work since then. My tree-of-life paintings, which I exhibited in the show, were the catalysts for some of the most inspiring conversations I have ever had. Regular readers of this BLOG will already know this and how grateful I am to have had the experience...hopefully I will again!

So, just a few snippets from the past. Not too many deep and meaningfuls on this post...plenty of them previously!

Cheers,

Kathryn

LISTENING TO THE STILLNESS

                                         Listening To The Stillness Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed

I have previously, in recent posts, written about my interest in the concept of the vortex and the stillness I imagine to be found in the centre or core of the vortex. In the stillness I imagine a quietness which allows you to listen to yourself, your thoughts and reflections, your heartbeat and breath. The imploring hysteria held within the twirling and whirling of the outer vortex fades away to leave a place where listening can be really experienced...a listening to life from within yourself, and a listening to the space and energy of the Universe. I imagine the vortex core to be a space of unfathomable immensity and also intimacy. This paradox is completely imaginable if notions of lines of sight and traditional perspective are abandoned.

I have written before about my thoughts on perspective and the need for us in the 21st century, where we live locally in a globalised world, to develop skills in 'seeing' multiple perspectives simultaneously. Indeed, another word may need to be created to describe the collapse of perspective.

But back to the vortex core. The painting above, and those in other recent posts, are my visual explorations of being inside the vortex. I imagine an attraction to, and an emmanation from, the vortex representing a natural and consistent flow of life and love. The hysteric twirling and whirling of the outer vortex strips life and love to the point where they are confused with such human derailments as jealousy, materialism, neediness, martyrdon etc.

The image above is a close up of an oil painting I am currently working on. It is my first oil painting focusing on my vortex ideas. As you can see my much loved tree-of-life has a dominant part to play in the visual story. [regular readers of this blog will not be surprised!] As in my recent works on paper, the tree-of-life/knowledge is connected to the inner core of the vortex like a sustaining vascular system, suggesting that once stillness is listened to, our lives expand beyond the reaches of the hysteric turmoil existing in the noisy outer world.

ON ANOTHER MATTER
Please have a look at this website 'coal4breakfast'. It has been set up by a group of farmers who live near or along a road called Haystack Rd, on the Darling Downs west of Dalby, Queensland, Australia. I grew up on my parent's farm not far away from this place. The soils surrounding Dalby are some of the most fertile soils in the southern hemisphere, thus representing major food producing capacity. However, there are minerals under the ground, mainly coal. Mining is threatening the sustainability of the fertile food producing soils of the area. There is no gurantee that lands can be rejuvenated and restored. For me, the risk is too high, because it is a risk that will influence future generations. These soils can produce food for 1000s of years, yet a mine's life is vastly shorter. http://www.coal4breakfast.com.au/page10.htm

Cheers,
Kathryn

ADDICTED TO SURPRISE?

                                                   Galaxial Landscape Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm

It is over a week since I last posted. The time has flown. But, I have finished my large 'galaxial' painting I wrote about in a recent post. And, there it is above. It's a 90 x 200 cm painting, so is rather long and large.

I wanted to create a painting that surprises...but surprises in a way which triggers a wonderment and a pondering. There are a few types of surprise and the one we humans seem most addicted to, is shocked surprise. What I  mean by 'shocked surprise' is a, 'Oh my goodness, how could that happen', kind of surprise. You know... when revelations of debauchery, floundering, misuse of public funds, romantic affairs, drunken footballer behaviour and so on and on and on, are made. We read or hear about these sorts of events, we tutt tutt or sympathise or criticise, and then forget about it until we are induced by media headlines to react the same way to the next shocking revelation. The constant cascade of shocking news seems to desensitise reactions causing feelings of helplessness. In a way, feeling shocked is all we think we can give.

So, getting back to the kind of surprise I want to induce...wonderment kind of surprise...the kind that actually makes your brain feel like its be stimulated because synapses and dendrites get a workout...the kind that makes your heart sing...the kind that opens gates inside your imagination...the kind that makes you dream. The kind that can actually...possibly....stimulate creative solutions to some of the world's problems.

My galaxial painting is an elliptical galaxy shaped long tree! The tree starts in the middle and twists its way around. Yes, regular readers of my blog will recognise the tree as my transcultural/religious tree-of-life  and/or tree-of-knowledge. I have been reading about galaxies recently and an image of a tree-of-life galaxy jumped into my imagination as I was reading. As it jumped into my imagination I felt like perspective disappeared into the seemingly liquid distances of space. Galaxies and their formations remind us that life/existence was compelled to form within nanoseconds of what is called the Big Bang. We are part of an ongoing process of life unfolding. We and our evolution are linked to the compulsion for life which errupted in those first nanoseconds. Now that's amazing, surprising, exciting and wonderful.

This painting is also linked to my interest in the distances of the micro and macro, the intimate and vast, the nano and the universal, the global and local. By using a commonly understood motif such as the tree I wanted to bring the universal into the grasp of some kind of human scale, to collapse distance and to remind that Earth is our home [at the moment and for the foreseeable future!] so we must honour, respect and love it.

I wonder what it would be like if we were addicted to wonder?
Cheers,
Kathryn

STILLNESS

                                                                 Stillness Within Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

Have you ever tried to find stillness? When I say 'stillness' I mean that place of peace and silence where the world stops spinning. I have tried many types of meditation, but I find it very difficult to make up my mind about where my favourite quiet place is. So, when a meditation facilitator suggests that one goes, in one's mind, to a favourite place I get quite agitated because I cannot choose. Then if I have actually chosen my spot before the meditation time is up, I then try to work out what the weather might be like, where exactly am I positioned and so on. Normally I start in a certain place ,but end up somewhere else, with many intervening 'happenings' occurring along the way. I suppose one could put it down to having an imagination!

But, recently I discovered a way to experience the stillness. I wrote about this briefly in a recent previous post 'Artifice of Fantasy' http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/06/artiface-of-fantasy.html I imagine I am inside a vortex! Well, yes...the vortex is a metaphor for the hurly burly of life. But, I find it very easy to imagine myself inside a vortex and when I do, I immediately feel stillness. The inside is the core, where I imagine no movement and silence, but an immense energy. This energy is not a frantic, electricified type of energy, but rather an energy of source, of a beginning and an end... and thus without time.

I was thinking about silence recently for a few reasons.
1.  I enjoy silence and I wonder why people want noise and sound all the time. When I think there is silence I realise that  it is never really silent, because through the quiet of seeming silence, sounds of nature can be heard eg: rustle of a lizard in the grass, a small bird's song and so on.
2.  A friend of mine mentioned the French philospoher Luce Iragary's interest in silence. I have previously read some of Iragary's work, but it was some time ago. I remember being drawn to it at the time. So, I have done some googling and read a little more and will endevour to buy one, two or more of her publications. Her interest in silence as a place of listening is intriguing and actually deceptively quite mutlifaceted in terms of knowing oneself... and the other ...and others.
3. I have another friend, Anna Schaumkel who runs listening circles through the business she runs with her partner http://www.beattitude.com.au/index.php I have attended a listening circle and it is quite a powerful experience. People sit in a circle and as each person talks the others listen without making commment. There is a profound experience of being heard.
4. As I have imagined being inside the vortex, in this place of stillness, I have 'heard' my own life force, I have 'heard' myself in the silence.

I know that many people, both men and women, feel unheard and have the attendant core belief of being unlovable. However, the silencing of women across history and cultures is profoundly sad, for men and women. This silencing can be directly by men, or by women to and of themselves based on fears revolving around expectations of societies and families which are largely based on patriachal dynamics. As the mother of daughters I see them voicing their opinions in ways that, at the same ages, I would never have been game to. As a single mother for the last ten years I have watched my daughters not be silenced by me and the residues of my learned experiences of expectation. My exhaustion has meant I could not keep up the facade of really caring about expectations, which deep down I resented anyway! My daughters' expectations are to be heard and not just be me, but by their father, friends, teachers and so on! In fact, I have learnt a lot from my daughters!

STILLNESS WITHIN  Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm
This painting depicts the tree of life twirling around the vascular red vortex which is linked at both the top and bottom to 'veins' which extend beyond the painting. An upright and an inverted tree-of -life, both rooted to the 'veins', suggest that time and space have ceased being measurable, as the woman inside the vortex experiences a stillness and quiet, where she hears her own life force through her breath and pulse, and knows who she really is.

PRESENCE IN MALENY
My small exhibition 'Presence' has been extended by one week until 22 June. So, 'Presence' can still be seen at Maleny's Upfront Club 31 Maple St, Maleny http://www.upfrontclub.org/

Kathryn

GALAXIAL

Detail of new painting with working title 'Galaxial Landscape' 90 x 200 cm Oil on linen

The above image is a detail of the painting I am currently working on. In my last post I briefly discussed a new work on paper called 'From The Stillness' where I have placed a figure inside a vortex. The painting above continues my interest in spirals, vortexs, helixes etc. I have used these shapes of phenomena in the past, but not with same intensity as I feel at the moment. I am reading another Martin Rees book [co-authored with Mitchell Begelman] called Gravity's Fatal Attraction: Black Holes In The Universe. Here's a link to a previous post where I write about Martin Rees's book Our Final Century http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/04/idea-sketches.html 

Gravity's Fatal Attraction: Black Holes In The Universe is a more technical book than Our Final Century, but it is equally as fascinating. It was while I was reading the chapter 'Galaxies and Their Nuclei' that my idea for a 'galaxy' formed from my tree-of-life sprung to mind. The image of an elliptical coil of multicoloured branches set against an endless sky-space instantly excited me. The notion of life beyond our human experience, yet tantalisingly possible, got me thinking about how to represent it, thus the tree-of-life motif. I also wanted to clearly place humanity within the tantalisation, thus the tree-of-life motif. Our galaxy is one of an endless number in the Universal schema and our Earth is but just a small dot, indiscernible from far distances. Regular readers will now see where another part of my interest lies. And, that is in perspective...or possibly the loss or implosion of perspective as a traditional line of sight or point of view.

I have postulated before that in a globalised world in which we live locally, we need to be able to 'see' more than one perspective at a time. And, I am talking metaphorically here. 'Seeing' simultaneous perspectives is potentially a new experience which needs a new word to describe it. A word which departs from traditional notions of line of sight. A word which untethers our imaginations in order to help us wonder about the feeling and experience of being able to 'see' and 'feel' multiple points of view simultaneously. A word which assists us in uncovering other dimensions. Are we missing those dimensions because our sense of perspective is tethered by line of sight, which always has blindspots?

I still have a lot do do with my new large painting... it is 90 x 200 cm. I had to make sure the coiled or spiralled tree-of-life appeared to be almost 3 dimensional on the flat long canvas. Now that took some time to work out , but I am happy. I wanted the tree to sing with colour and so far it is showing signs of singing!  I wanted it to sing because, to me, that means there is an electricity or energy portrayed. It is important to me that in this painting a cosmic type of energy is evident and felt by the viewer. When the painting is finished I hope that the viewer feels simultaneously drawn into the spiral, and propelled to vast distances [at least in their imaginations!] Above is a small sketch I did late on the night when I was reading about galaxies.

So, I will return to my studio now. And, until next time, cheers,
Kathryn

ARTIFICE OF FANTASY

From The Stillness Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

I am back in the studio properly now, after my break following FRISSON. The house smells of turps. I smell of turps. I call it my 'eau de turps' perfume. I spent this morning preparing the first layer of colour on 5 canvases. Lots of paint, turps and linseed oil! I also sat and stared at a 90 x 200 cm canvas which already has the background completed. I have so many ideas, I have to sift through each imagined image to 'test' to 'see' if it suits the long horizontal format, plus if I feel myself getting really excited about it. I've sketched and made notes to myself over the last 6 or so weeks and today I have been reading through my various art diaries to get a 'feel' for how I am going to proceed.

In the middle of all this activity I finished a work on paper [above] which I had started last week when I tentatively ventured into my room where I create my works on paper. I have to wait for the newly prepared canvases to dry, or partially dry, before I can splash some more paint around. Thus, finishing this work on paper helped me process some of my thoughts. I certainly don't want to lose my thoughts!!!

The painting above is called 'From The Stillness'. It depicts my imagined self inside a vortex. No, I am not unrelentingly caught up in a dizzying twirling and swirling, but rather, I am in the core of the vortex where I imagine stillness, yet unfathomable positive energy and unconditional love to exist. It is in the stillness that I imagine the presence of the divine, which I have symbolised with a white light that cascades over my body. This 'light' erupts from the vortex core into life, which is represented by my much loved transcultural-religious tree-of-life.

I have more images of vortex cores and erupting white light inside my head. Plus, I have images inside my head of elliptical galaxies, figures transforming into trees and much, much more. As each image appears in my imagination I know that they come from processes buried deep in my psyche and in time, which find their catalysts in wonder.

Now to some thoughts which are linked to all that I have already written above, but are broader in their perspective. Imagination is the superconductor of knowledge. Without imagination and wonder where would we be? Science, mathematics, philosophy...discovery of any kind is aided and driven by imagination and wonder. Yet, I sometimes think that people confuse imagination with fantasy. For me, the latter is more about wishful thinking and is prone to unhealthy distortion, pretense and superficiality. Oh, it can be fun, but it can also be dangerous as the imploded 'fantasy' of subprime loans and other crumbling edifices of the GFC have revealed. And, what about the 'fantasy' worlds created by leaders such as Mugabe, Hitler and others of their ilk?

I am reminded of J.K. Rowling's Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association
http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination
She says of imagination, 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. She goes on to say,  I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.

Maybe the 'wilfully unimaginative' are those prone to the artiface of fantasy? This makes one think about the role post-modernism has played [literally played!] in the artifice which the GFC has revealed and continues to reveal. I wrote a post in November 2008 about postmodenism and the implosion of financial markets and economies http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/11/after-implosion.html

All this makes one ponder upon art. It seems to me that fantasy may have crept into the visual lexicon, but at what cost? Fantasy can be arresting [momentarily], spectacular [as in being a spectacle], clever but not necessarily intelligent, seductive but not sensual, slapstick but not humourous, didactic [ie: not meaningful], interesting but not memorable...and so on. How can we tell when art is playing with fantasy or revelling in the superconducting depths of imagination and wonder?

J.K Rowling's statement about imagination being the vehicle by which we can empathise with others is pivotally important. It is the capacity to put oneself in another's shoes, bypassing gratuitous sympathy to plummet into the intimacy of shared compassion. It is the capacity to change perspective or even  to 'see' multiple perspectives simultaneously. Regular readers of this BLOG know of my intense interest in art's potential catalytic agency to stimulate new dance steps across the multiple perspectives which are revealed as we live locally in an increasingly globalised world. Compassion is paramount.

I highly recommend J.K. Rowlings speech which you can either read or watch @
http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination

Below is a picture of my 'studio' [garage] where I paint my large oil on linen paintings. You can see the first layer of colour on the 5 of the canvases I prepared this morning.

Cheers,
Kathryn

SHIFT

Royalties Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2010

June 1 is the date I said I would be back into my studio, after taking some time to gather myself and my thoughts following my exhibition FRISSON in March. But, I have been back into my studio a little bit lately to start some works on paper dealing with my ongoing interest in water. I have previously written quite a lot about this interest, but there is just so much to think about, especially when placed against a backdrop of current economic conditions, both domestic and international.

I am particularly thinking about the issues surrounding coal seam gas extraction in the Surat Basin where owners and operators of prime grazing and farming lands are currently negotiating with the mining companies which have prospecting rights. The issues of contaminated water, reduced underground aquifer levels, potential reduced water for grazing and farming needs, potential reduced land available for grazing and farming production [thus food!], potential land degradation and increased salinity levels, increased noise and dust, infrastructure capacity stress eg: roads, schools, increased traffic [particularly heavy vehicles] etc way heavily. Social issues such as rural camaraderie may be affected by the vagaries of deal making, resultant inuendo and secrecy. The social fabric of small rural communities means that everyone talks about eveyone else and knows, at least to some extent, what others are doing. I know! I have lived in small rural communities for nearly 40 years, having been born into a farming family outside Dalby, right in the middle of some of the richest and deepest top soil in the southern hemisphere. I then spent 18 years living in Goondiwindi, on the border of Queensland and New South Wales, with a population of around 5,000 people in the town and another 5,000 people in the surrounding districts.

Blue Gold Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2009

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/02/water.html

Dalby is smack bang in the middle of the coal seam gas bonanza. This is another reason why I am particularly interested in the huge shift in the focus of rural survival, the economic and the social outcomes. The quickened heart beat of change and worry is sensed when you place the local issues of the Surat Basin against the Australian Federal Government's announcement to impose a rent tax on the mining industry, the ferocious opposition to the rent tax from mining and affiliated companies plus the Federal Opposition and the immediate share price falls of mining and affiliated companies [which affects amongst other things, the retirement superannuation funds of ordinary Australians]. On the broader scale the macro economic conditions of our world are tortuously exacerbated by natural and manmade disasters, immanent battle to arms and the ongoing licking of wounds inflicted by the GFC.

Gee, we live in fantastic times! Regular readers might think I am being uncharacteristically negative and sombre. I don't see the world through rose tinted glasses or bury my head in the sand, but I am interested in trying to see, from both local and global perspectives, where emergent patterns of change are occurring. The plethora of disaster being experienced in the world, from financial and economic collapses to hurricanes and earth quakes, political tensions with fanatical nations to unforgiveable oil spills do remind us of reality. Financial undertakings cannot be about fantasy, increased natural disasters remind us to look after our planet, fanatical individual, groups and nations live and think differently and cannot be wished away via traditional logical means, and massive manmade disasters remind us that risk has a capital R.I.S.K and must be dealt with honestly and without bravado.

Truth Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2009

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/06/truth.html

There was a flurry of interest last week about the announcement, by Craig Venter and his team, of the creation of synthetic life. Here's a link to the TED talk  http://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life.html  However, this week I have not read much about this amazing development. But, this often happens with scientific discoveries. Why? I am not sure, but maybe the media decides another story is more saleable. In this case the iPad certainly must be a far more saleable story that the creation of synthetic life, because there's been plenty in the general media about the iPad.

But, back to being serious...the creation of synthetic life does pose risk [RISK] because, for example, in the hands of a mad person, who understood the scientific process, the world could be taken over by cell sized replicating synthetic warriors that could, for instance, eat us from the inside out, take over our minds and so on [I will let you imagine!]. However, on the upside synthetic cell sized replicating life could be developed to 'eat up' oil spills. Craig Venter mentions a number of positive uses and applications for synthetic life in the TED talk. The viewer gets the impression he only touches the surface of what is possible. He also mentions risk and the steps taken to avoid it...very gratifying and reassuring.

Obviously it is early days, but just imagine if sythetic life could replace the need for coal seam gas! Then the Surat Basin would be returned to the farmers, albeit 'pock marked'. Imagine if it could replace other energy sources! Rent taxes would be superfluous. Just imagine................................................

The out of the blue, left field development which appears within the complexity of life, and thus shifts our expectations is where excitement and potential lie.

ROYALTIES  Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm [Above]
The yellow foreground of this ambiguous landscape is created with $ signs. Regular readers of my BLOG know I have used $ before. I have also used them in the second painting above Blue Gold ...'blue gold' being water. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/02/water.html  The smallness of the $ signs means that the viewer initially does not really notice them, but upon a closer examination they do. I have watched people as they move closer to my $ paintings. The realisation shows on their faces as they move even closer to the image and then move back again to get a broader perspective. Regular readers know that this action of moving close and then moving back to a distance is important to me for a couple of reasons. One, it replicates the artist's action of painting up close and then moving back to view from a distance, to make decisions based on a range of concerns from aesthetic to meaning. Two, this action of moving back and forth is like a dance, the kind of dance I 'see' as necessary in a global world in which we live locally. In Royalties the small circles in the 'sky' are dotted with the same $ yellow. These circles are like portals which seem to offer alternative visons for how we place 'value' on the offerings of our Earth.  Questions I ask are: in the flurry of activity what are we noticing?  What and where are our blindspots? Is it possible to see the 'big picture' at the same time as seeing the details? The last question is one I try to grapple with in my paintings...I like to think that people experience a sense of what it is like to see the macro at the same time as the micro, thus changing ideas of perspective and perhaps shedding light to reveal our blindspots.

Cheers, Kathryn