Monday, August 05, 2013

7 YEARS BLOGGING BIRTHDAY-Online Exhibition

 Mountains and Metaphors Oil on linen 80 x 200 cm 2005
To read about this painting please click HERE and HERE
 
 
It is seven years this month since I started my BLOG
 
 
Art @ Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox 
FLYING SOARING...IRRESISTIBLY...We're all the same.
 

 Unlimited Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2005

So, I decided to celebrate by choosing a couple of paintings from each year since 2005...I know one year before I started the BLOG... but these paintings featured in those early meanderings.
 
If you are interested in purchasing any of the paintings please contact me through
this BLOG or my website contact page


Shared History Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2006
  

Sending Love Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm 2007
 
 
 Into The Symphony Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2008
To read more about this painting please click HERE and HERE
 

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


 In The Garden Of  Eden Oil on linen 50 x 94 cm 2009
To read about my Adam and Eve series please click HERE
 
 
 Halo Oil on linen 82 x 182 cm 2009


 The Beginning Of Everything Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm 2010
 
 
Cosmic Dust Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2010
 

 Underground Currency Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm 2011


 Gate Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm 2011


 Perpetual Beginning Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2011
This painting is in the Brisbane Grammar Art Show 9-10 August 2013


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


 Eternity's Breath Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm 2012
This painting will be in my next solo exhibition COSMIC ADDRESS
Details HERE


 Cosmic Ouroboros Oil on linen 120 x 150 cm 2012
Cosmic Ouroboros is the most popular post on my BLOG
This painting will be in my next solo exhibition COSMIC ADDRESS
Details HERE
 
 Hope Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm 2013
                        This painting will be in my next solo exhibition COSMIC ADDRESS
Details HERE
 
                                   
Cosmic Address Oil on linen 90 x 180cm 2013
This painting will be in my next solo exhibition, also called COSMIC ADDRESS
Details HERE
 
 
UPCOMING EVENTS
  • Brisbane Grammar School Art Show. I was invited to exhibit again this year. I have six paintings-4 oil on linen -including Perpetual Beginning above and 2 works on paper in the exhibition. Dates are 9-10 August at the BGS school. It is their Open Day on Saturday 10 August. Click HERE for details.
 
  • The Seeing Stars Art Award hosted by the world's largest telescope the SKA [Square Kilometre Array] is being hung this week. The opening at federation Square, Melbourne will be Tuesday 13 August. My painting Where? is a finalist in the award. To see all the finalists please click HERE  Shall keep you posted!
 
  • Tattersall'a Landscape $25,000 Art Award 2013. I have again been invited to enter a painting into this great art prize and exhibition. The award is announced on September 5 at Brisbane's Tattersall's Club. From September 9-20 it will be on public view at Waterfront Place, 1 eagle St, Brisbane CBD. Shall keep you posted!
 
 
 
Cheers,
Kathryn
 
 
 







Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Girl May Leave The Country, But The Country Never Leaves The Girl.

 Two Horizons Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2002
 
On Thursday and Friday last week I went on an adventure to Outback Queensland. I flew from Brisbane to Roma and then was driven to Mitchell, which is about an hour west of Roma. I had a great time!
 
I went out west to judge the Mitchell Art Show. When I was invited to be the judge, a few months ago, I jumped at the opportunity to return to the country and look at art. And, none of it disappointed.
 
The very active local Mitchell Art Group has been hosting the annual art show and competition for 14 years. It is an efficiently run exercise that attracts art from the local area and further afield. Local art shows are incredibly important for all sorts of reasons. I take my hat off to the organisers of the Mitchell Art Show and all the contributors. I spent 18 years being involved, with many others, in the Goondiwindi Art Show and I know what it's like to be organiser, exhibitor, hanger, provider, and more!
 
I judged painting, sculpture and photography sections, plus a couple of junior sections. The Maranoa Art Gallery, in the main street of Mitchell, is a great space. It is obviously a cultural hub for the townspeople and for those who live in the surrounding region.
 
The overall winner was a young grade 12 student from Roma, Darcy Foott. He won with an amazing photograph. It is an image which takes an iconic piece of rural infrastructure ie: the high water tank into new perspectives! The tank stand was under-lit in a theatrical manner revealing a kind of sculptural essence. Darcy had taken a shot looking upwards capturing the tank stand's lit underbelly and then taking the viewer beyond to the glittering night sky.
 
Many people drove for an hour or more to attend the opening on Friday night. It was a fun night where, after speeches by me, organises and sponsors, I settled into lots of chatting, plus catching up with old school friends!
 
And, because you normally see photos of me in my painting gear, here's a photo of me all dressed up for the Art Show opening.
 
 
 
 
TWO HORIZONS Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm
 
I chose to upload Two Horizons with this post, because it reflects the country/city elements of my life. I am sure many people can relate to this, for all sorts of reasons. This was painted in 2002, so over ten years ago. There's an old saying...it goes something like this...The girl may leave the country, but the country never leaves the girl.
 
 
Please check out my LAST POST: MULTIPLE LANDSCAPES!
Why? Because I have been so busy lately I have not done any painting...so if you'd like to read about my recent work please check out MULTIPLE LANDSCAPES
 
 
COSMIC ADDRESS
My next exhibition:
15 to 27 October 2013 at Graydon Gallery, Brisbane.
I am really excited about this show. Shall keep you posted!
 
Cheers,
Kathryn

Saturday, July 20, 2013

MULTIPLE LANDSCAPES

Multiple Landscapes Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm

In this post:
 
1. Some words for Multiple Landscapes
2. Photos of Multiple Landscapes in progress
 3. Finalist in 'Seeing Stars' Art Award. Hosted by the SKA [Square Kilometre Array, the world's largest telescope]
 
1. Multiple Landscapes
Regular readers will know of my interest in the concept of seeing multiple perspectives, literal and metaphoric. I suggest that skills in seeing multiple perspectives, even simultaneously, are imperative as we move through the 21st century. The cavalcades of new discoveries about the Universe demand it.

So, to my new painting Multiple Landscapes. Yes, it is a 'loaded' title. It can be 'read' as a painting of
two literal landscapes, maybe even more if the viewer sees landscape in the negative spaces. Yet, I was thinking a bit more deeply than that! These are some of those thoughts [but not all of them!!!]:

MACRO-MICRO
  •  The landscape on the right is representative of the macro world, the world of vastness, great size and distance. The other, almost 'mirror' landscape, is representative of the micro world, that dimension that embraces its own type of vastness, one that cannot be seen, yet holds energy forces that drive existence. The two 'sides' of landscape encapsulate the concept of the ouroboros, the age-old symbol of the snake eating its own tail, used by modern cosmologists to visually describe the relationship between the cosmic and quantum worlds. Regular readers will know that I have used this symbol in my paintings. Here are a couple of links COSMIC OUROBOROS and OUROBOROS

PSYCHE
  • I was thinking that 'landscape' is a metaphor for psyche. The seemingly mirrored landscapes in Multiple Landscapes could be variously the conscious and subconscious, the ego and shadow, order and disorder, being awake and dreaming. The negative spaces offer a tantalising suggestion that there's more to discover.
AMBIGUITY
  • I was keen to make the orientation of the landscapes somewhat ambiguous. Yet, as I have presented the painting above ie: horizontally, the tops of the mountains 'read' as the horizon. Yet, the 'bottom' of the landscapes can also be 'read' as an horizon. When flipped on its side the painting takes on another perspective.

UN-TETHERING LANDSCAPE
  • Regular readers will know of my interest in un-tethering concepts of landscape from being Earth-bound. In an age where cosmological research is revealing more and more about the close and far distances of the Universe, I believe it is important that concepts of 'landscape' extend to embrace cosmic perspectives. Why? Because these kinds of perspective clearly show that Earth is our home and the Universe is our environment. We have nowhere else to go [at least for the long present!], so we'd better look after our home. With Multiple Landscapes I was also thinking about a Universal 'landscape' that reaches across time and space. I have previously written about my ideas on un-tethering landscape...here's one previous post UNTETHERED LANDSCAPE
  • A recent article 'Can The U.S. Create A National Park On The Moon' reveals a lot about attachment. It also scarily heralds a need to really question our behaviour towards 'landscape' in the broadest sense. Imagine if Earthly nations started pegging out Space, colonising with a national identity. 'Navel gazing' leads to small horizons and potentially dangerous actions, because the perspective used is not multi-dimensional.

2. Photos of Multiple Landscapes in progress:

There are more photos in my last post INSPIRATION AND PROCESS

  Early preparation

 Building the layers of colour

Time to ponder is an important part of my process...I sit and ponder - What next?...if anything. Pondering gives time for the realisation that something may or may not need more.
 
3. 'Seeing Stars' Art Award
My painting Where? [image below] is a finalist in the 'Seeing Stars' Art Award.
'Seeing Stars' is a celebration of art and astronomy inspired by the world's largest telescope - the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) which will be co-hosted here in Australia. 
Click HERE to find details of the finalists. When you are on the page, click OPEN FINALISTS and you will be taken to a page which shows all the finalists artwork.
There were around 2,000 entries with 177 finalists. I am very excited about my painting being one of them.
I will be sending Where? to Melbourne for the exhibition of finalists works, which will be at Federation Square from August 13. The judges will be deciding a winner at this.
VOTE:
You can be involved too. There's a vote for a 'People's Choice'. On the page of images 'Where?' is first on the third row...that's if you want to vote for me!!! To vote...for any work...you tick 'My Favourite' and then at the top of the page there is a 'Submit' button.
I previously wrote about Where? in a post called LOOKING IN THE REAR VISION MIRROR
 
For more information about the SKA...and it is exciting and fascinating...please click HERE
Where? Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm 2013

Oh...and one last thing...please check out my new page COSMIC ADDRESS ...getting ready for my solo exhibition COSMIC ADDRESS in Brisbane in October!


Until next time!
Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

Sunday, July 07, 2013

INSPIRATION AND PROCESS

File:San Romano Battle (Paolo Uccello, London) 01.jpgPaolo Uccello The Battle of San Romano Tempera on panel 182 x 317 cm c.1438-40
National Gallery in London
Click HERE to see all three The Battle of San Romano paintings together.
 
 
What inspires me? Lots of things, too many to list. But, I will write about a few here.
 
And, why did I place 'process' in the title with 'inspiration'? As you will see I am inspired by the processes I use and the surprises they provide.

Regular readers will know that cosmology, age-old symbols, ideas...all inspire me. But, I thought I'd gather in some of those inspirations I have not written about as much or at all.
 
Firstly let's concentrate on a couple of inspirations that are not part of my literal process, but still hit me in the guts or heart or brain...or all three at once.
 
 
PAOLO UCCELLO  1397 -1475
I have to start with an artist who I have loved since I first encountered his work in my secondary school art class. He is the early Renaissance Florentine artist is Paolo Uccello . I did not see his three Battle of San Romano paintings in the flesh, so to speak, until I was in my mid twenties. The first encounter was at the National Gallery in London [painting above], then the Uffizi in Florence and the Louvre in Paris. The London and Florence paintings are the ones that moved me the most. When I first saw them I had physical reactions...heart missed a beat, gut felt like it had been turned inside out [in a good way!], and my brain was just so excited.
 
What do I love about the painting above? The answer involves the patterning, movement, action, colours, the pastoral landscape, the composition which moves the eye effortlessly around the image, and Uccello's early experiments with perspective. The answer also involves something I cannot explain, but I definitely feel very strongly. In 2002 I spent 6 weeks in London, when I had my own show there. I regularly visited the National Gallery to see the The Battle of San Romano. The feeling did not diminish...a feeling of expectancy.
 
In 2002 Dr Sally Butler wrote an article for Eyeline magazine about Cutlines, a major painting/installation I exhibited at Brisbane's Soapbox Gallery [now closed]. A 120 x 900 cm work on paper wrapped around two walls of a room in the gallery. In her article Butler wrote in reference to my sense of landscape:
 
In this regard the work of Italian painter Paolo di Dono Uccello (1397-1475) is a strong influence for the artist. There is a plastic strength in Uccello's paintings that derives from his interest in geometry and his fascination with the way forms can be arranged in a pattern or scheme that is meaningful in itself. His art promotes the notion of a geometry of our environment, or more particularly, how we formulate a geometry of our environment in order to understand it. Kathryn Brimblecome-Fox's landscapes share this plasticity and sense of spatial organisation that comes from within.
Eyeline 49 Spring 2002 P.38
 
But let's propel ourselves from the fifteenth century to now. I was recently alerted to a French musician who calls himself Woodkid He is also a songwriter, music video director and graphic
designer. In March 2011 he released his debut single Iron...also a music video. It is fantastic and inspiring! AND, reminds me so much of National Gallery of London's Uccello, The Battle of San Romano. They both share a magic that's expectant and complete at the same time. They both depict battles, which can be interpreted literally and metaphorically. They both move in the same direction. Whilst Iron is without a landscape context, I feel The Battle of San Romano's echoes into it across time.
 
Take a look at the Youtube video of Iron below and see what you think. I am inspired!
 
 
Woodkid Iron
You can find more about Woodkid HERE
 
 
FAMILY FARM
Regular readers will know that the flat treeless Pirrinuan Plain of my childhood home has been a very strong influence and inspiration for me. The distance...living in it at the same time as observing it...being embraced by horizon...seeing and feeling perspective...witnessing seasonal patterns in the flourish of new crops and their demise at harvest...noting the geometry carved into the landscape by humans at the same time as noticing natural patterns, shapes, movements...rejoicing in the sky, a constantly changing sight from day to night, from relentlessly blue to threatening grey and more...the milky way at night reaching towards us with light and sparkle bringing us closer.
 
My brother Wilfred Brimblecombe has a photography BLOG where he posts photographs he has taken over many years, as well as now. He as a number of photographs of our family farm on the Pirrinuan Plain. Pirrinuan is a very small railway siding outside Dalby on the rich and fertile Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. The photograph below is from Wilfred's BLOG When you visit his BLOG look at the listing of TAGS on the right hand side. Click on Pirrinuan, Dalby and Glencoe to see more of my childhood landscape. Our parents sold the farm in the mid 1980s.
 
 
Wilfred Brimblecombe   Pirrinuan Paddocks in the 80s
 
The painting below is inspired by many things, including growing up at Pirrinuan. The Beginning of Everything  is both a vast and intimate painting. I write about my childhood landscape in the post I wrote for this painting. You can read it HERE.
 
The Beginning of Everything Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm
 
 
PROCESS
The process I use to create my paintings inspires me. How? The preparatory stages involve accidents which I allow to happen, without fear and with much anticipation. Once I have painted the canvas a colour I then splash turps across it. I will then place the stretched canvas flat on the ground or at a slight incline or lean it up against something. Whatever I do allows the paint to do its own thing... run, trickle, pool. I will 'orchestrate' this with a couple of layers of colour. I literally do not have any idea what the canvas will look like...and I like this because it seems to 'speak' to me.
 
I may have some ideas for the painting in my head, but the prepared canvas also informs the ultimate visual direction. It could be a difficult dance together, but it is not. I really do get excited when a prepared canvas awaits me and I look forward to the hours I will spend with it.
 
Last Thursday night I attended a terrific presentation 'Archetypes of Chaos' by anthropologist Dr. Jonathon Marshall at the Qld Jung Society . Dr Marshall spoke about the agency of chaos, from a number of perspectives eg: paradox, trickster, mythology and more. In the act of creation both order and chaos have potencies to play. In a sense by allowing the paint and turps do their own things I invite chaos into the painting process. I am not totally in control. I am seeking to have my mind scattered so that I might 'find' things I did not know were there! Yet, when people see the final production they comment on the detail and precision of my work. However, it is essentially a veil or another dimension...and that can lead to lots more inspiration! Look below the surface...literally and metaphorically.
 
Below are some photos of the early stages of my next painting. I wonder how it will end up?
 
 
 The initial paint
 
 The initial paint still wet

 After the turps has been splashed around, and the paint and turps do their unscripted 'dance' together.
 
 The second layer of colour on top of the first dry layer. The painting leaning up against the old wardrobe is Are We There Yet?
 
The second layer also disturbed by splashes of turps....drying now....and 'speaking' to me! Asking me to 'dance' too.
 
 
In my last post Super-Earths I also uploaded some photos of THE PROCESS. Oh, and a video as well.
 
___________________________________________________________________
 
 
Next Exhibition

 
COSMIC ADDRESS
15- 27 October
Brisbane
 
Check out my recent COSMIC ADDRESS preview notification HERE
 
And to see a painting and post called COSMIC ADDRESS please click HERE
 
 
_____________________________________________________________________
 
 
Cheers,
Kathryn
 

Monday, July 01, 2013

SUPER-EARTHS


Super-Earths Discovered Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm 2013
 
RECENT HEADLINES
 
Super-Earths discovered in stellar cluster ABC Science
Trio of 'super Earths' discovered in a star's habitable zone  Sydney Morning Herald June 26 2013
Found! 3 Super-Earth Planets That Could Support Alien Life Space.com
Star is crowded by super-Earths BBC Science And Environment
Super-Earth’ trio may support life Japan Times
Super-Earths detected in nearby star system WIRED
 
 
Last week it was reported that astronomers discovered a nearby star system with 3 possible 'Super-Earths' within the habitable zone around the star. Super-Earths are planets less massive than Neptune, but more massive than our own Earth. These newly discovered Super-Earths have the potential to sustain life. A 'habitable zone' refers to the temperature region around a star where liquid water could exist.  Planets outside our solar system are called exoplanets.
 
If you want to know more check out the articles linked above.
 
SUPER-EARTHS DISCOVERED
Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm
 
Now, to my new painting Super-Earths Discovered
 
Regular readers will see a continuation with other recent galactic-type paintings. They will also identify my 'play' with landscape and my attempts to untether ideas of 'landscape' from being Earth-bound. New perspectives, revealed by astronomical discoveries, open us to possibilities and potentials that push perspective beyond horizons previously thought to be at the extreme of distance.
They also afford us new ways of viewing ourselves...don't you think? As I have written before, perspective is both literal and metaphoric.
 
In my painting Super-Earths Discovered a mountainous landscape is shadowed by a massive 'planet'. The orientating mountainous landscape, whilst Earth-like, may not be Earth. It may be one of the newly discovered Super-Earths! Where is the viewer ie: you and me? We may be on the third planet, or in a space craft tripping our way between planets or we may be situated on a neighbouring mountain range gazing across the treacherous landscape. Fun hey!!!
 
So, alien life is a possibility on these newly discovered Super-Earths. We humans do seem to have a great urge to find 'space mates'. Yet, apart from the possibility of alien life, habitable Super-Earths also offer us alternative 'homes'. You know, when a cataclysmic occurrence, natural or human-made, makes Earth un-inhabitable or non-existent...except as debris [please check out my previous post HOPE]. Let's transport our imaginations into a far distant future...then ten to one hundred times the distance! In order to ensure humanity's survival, what if the 'powers that be' send something, that will ignite human DNA, in a space ship to the most habitable Super-Earth? Imagine that upon landing a mechanism causes the dormant DNA device to trigger life. Ah Ha! But, would we be human like we are now or would we appear more alien-like? There's a story there!
 
Regular readers will notice the tree...my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol. The tree signifies...life! In Super-Earths Discovered  the tree is like a beacon. Is it welcoming or warning?
 
A couple of other recent galactic paintings:
 
 
THE CREATION OF
SUPER-EARTHS DISCOVERED
 
I have recently posted some photos of me working...and people seem to really like it. I have had numerous requests for more. To see the previous post please click HERE
 
So here goes...the following photos are of me painting Super-Earths Discovered
 
 The initial preparation of the stretched linen. Photo: Edwina Fox
 

 Splashing turps around. Photo: Edwina Fox
 
 
Waiting to run, dribble and dry. Photo: Edwina Fox
 
 
Early stages
 
 
I use rags as well as brushes!
 
And here's video:
 
 
My next solo exhibition
________________________________________________________________________
 
 
All of this is n preparation for my next solo exhibition
 
COSMIC ADDRESS
15- 27 October
Brisbane
 
Check out my recent COSMIC ADDRESS preview notification HERE
 
And to see a painting and post called COSMIC ADDRESS please click HERE
 
________________________________________________________________________
 
VERY INTERESTING
 
Take a look at this video:
 
 
It is a project to send images of life on Earth into space. It's a kind of art installation. The images will be placed in some kind of capsule attached to a satellite which will be launched into orbit around Earth. Will they survive the mainstreet satellite highway up there? If the capsule survives for eons will it stand the heat of our sun in its hades-like dying days? Will aliens discover the images, and if so what will they think? Is the project adding to potential space debris and compromising space sustainability? Is this more about reflecting upon ourselves rather than sending messages afar? Perspective works in wonderful ways! 
 
Cheers,
Kathryn

Sunday, June 23, 2013

PLAYING WITH LANDSCAPE

Playing With Landscape Oil on linen 80 x 90 cm

Playing With Landscape continues with the 'playful' theme of my recent painting and post, both called Other Worlds, Ahoy!  However, in Playing With Landscape there is not referential landscape for the viewer to find a 'safe' and sure orientation. Rather, 'landscape' seems to float in an undefined place and space, which could also be described as 'landscape', although nebulously so.

In Playing With Landscape there is no orientating landscape to call 'Ahoy' to or from. Indeed, as the Universe expands, one day in the far distant future, we may loose sight of the galactic entities we orientate ourselves to?

With Playing With Landscape  I wanted a sense of many things! While I was painting I was thinking about:
  • Planets in Space
  • Scattered remnants of Earth in Space
  • Cellular organisms or other particles seen under a microscope
  • Manmade nanobots roaming...somewhere?
  • Thoughts
  • Souls
  • Life
  • Released notions of what 'landscape' is in an age where cosmological research is revealing more and more about the close and far distances of the Universe.
  • Untethered landscape
Using the word 'landscape' very loosely I perceive it everywhere! I sense it's demand to be untethered from Earth-bound horizons.

Regular readers will identify my fascination with perspective in the various possibilities this painting suggests. Some are vast and others intimate, some are exterior and others whisper of an interiority that is intimate, yet vast in possibility. Some are material and some are...not.

Regular readers will also see my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol. It appears to erupt from each planet, remnant, soul. It's suggests a connectivity...a system...life.

I invite you to play with landscape too.

_________________________________________________
 
My last post My Studio/s proved to be quite popular with its photos of me in my studio etc. People have requested more photos of me doing my 'thing'.
 
So, here we go.
 

Me putting the finishing touches to Playing With Landscape oil on linen 80 x 90 cm.
I can see more clearly in the bright sunshine.
 
 
Me working on Playing With Landscape. I don't normally have a grin on my face as I work, but my daughter, who took the photos, said I had to smile! She has taken more, including a video which I'll put up soon.
 
 
In the meantime here is a photo of me [below] preparing a stretched linen for my next painting. My daughter has taken a video of me doing the prep...and quickened it, so that my movements are like Charlie Chaplin...so it looks really funny! She also managed to cut my head off for most of it. Ha!
 
 
 
 
 
My 2013 solo exhibition was
COSMIC ADDRESS
15- 27 October
Brisbane
 
Check out COSMIC ADDRESS preview notification HERE
 
And to see a painting and post called COSMIC ADDRESS please click HERE
 
 
Cheers,
Kathryn

Monday, June 17, 2013

MY STUDIO/S

 
 
 
 
I have no new work to show off this post, so I thought I'd upload some photos of me in my studio. I have two spaces where I paint at my house. One is the room in the photo above, which also houses the hot water system and fuse box! It's where I paint my works on paper. The map drawers are great storage for unframed paintings. I've had them for over twenty years.
 
The second space is my garage. No longer a place for cars! It is where I stack some stretched linen paintings, as well as paint them. My easel, paints and brushes are always there. However, many of my paintings start off flat on the ground, like the photo below of me kneeling beside a canvas. Lots of turps and paint ends up on the concrete floor. I have to be careful not to walk in it and bring it onto the carpet inside the main part of the house.
 
 
 
 
The third working space in my house is my office, where I am in the photo below. Here I am on the phone, obviously having been called into the office from my studio. My paint shirt [fortunately] matches my eyes! My office is very near both of my studio spaces...and yes I have managed to get paint on the carpet...and you can see some on the phone too.
 
I am really lucky to have space to paint and work. One of the best things is being able to leave my paints, brushes etc out...not having to pack them away. It gives me freedom to come and go as needed, especially on those busy days where other distractions need and demand attention. You know things like doing my tax, running after children, cleaning the pool, mowing the lawn...general 'stuff'!
 
 
 
The three photos above were taken by my daughter. I won't show you the embarrassing ones! There's a great one of me on the phone with a face mask [the kind which promises better skin!] on....
 
And... just so you can see me dressed well, here's a photo [below] taken by talented Brisbane based photographer Gillian Van Niekerk from Vann Photography You can find Vann Photography on Facebook too.
 
 
 
 
NEWS
 
1. My next solo exhibition
COSMIC ADDRESS
will be in 15- 27 October
Brisbane
 
Check out my recent COSMIC ADDRESS preview notification HERE
 
And to see a painting and post called COSMIC ADDRESS please click HERE
 
-------------------------------------------------
 
2. And please check out my recent feature in The Art Life's New Work Friday HERE
 
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3. And in case you missed my recent short story [with images]
 
STIRRING THE STAR DUST
 
please click HERE
 
----------------------------------------------------
 
4. And to see the most popular post on my BLOG 
 
COSMIC OUROBORUS
 
Please click HERE
 
Cosmic Ouroboros Oil on linen 120 x 150 cm 2012
 
 
I will have a new painting to show you next time.
Cheers,
Kathryn

Sunday, June 09, 2013

OTHER WORLDS, AHOY!

Other Worlds, Ahoy! Oil on linen 80 x 90cm 2013
 
Regular readers will know that when I use a term such as 'other worlds' I am thinking literally and metaphorically.

With this post, in keeping with some of my other recent ones, I am suggesting journeys [amongst other things too]. But...again both literal and metaphoric ones.

Other Worlds, Ahoy! also continues my thoughts on untethering notions of landscape from being Earth-bound. In an age where cosmological research is discovering more and more about the close and far distances of the Universe, even suggesting a Multiverse, I believe we have a great opportunity to re-interpret 'landscape' with new perspectives. And...that this may provide new insights for all kinds of sustainability and even new ways of being.

With Other Worlds, Ahoy! a dominant landscape provides an horizon, yet is the viewer in this landscape or hovering above it? Is it Earth? Other planets...even Universes...worlds...hover too. Is the viewer on another of these? Or is the viewer in some kind of spacecraft madly negotiating a safe pathway to another Earth-like planet, a new 'home'?

I have used the exclamation Ahoy! as if you, the viewer, are being alerted to new worlds, like a sailor exclaiming 'Land Ahoy!' or someone on land exclaiming 'Ship Ahoy!'

So, this got me thinking, are we like a sailor, keeping a keen eye out for land, or are we observers looking for a ship? Yep, 'land' is a metaphor for sanctuary and 'ship' is one for journey, even escape. Maybe, with skills in seeing multi-perspictives, even simultaneously, we will 'see' all opportunities for escape, journeys and sanctuaries, and in this process discover new ways of being where opportunity becomes something else.

And, I was also thinking about the inner workings of our psyches where 'other worlds' exist, where sanctuaries promise and 'ships' pass through. The 'landscape' of the soul, the 'landscape' of the psyche are intriguing ideas, because like literal landscape, there are mountains and valleys, floods and droughts...and the opportunity for perspective, even multiple ones experienced simultaneously.

The two trees in Other Worlds, Ahoy! are beacon-like, maybe beckoning and warning. For me, they represent all of life. As regular readers will know, they refer to my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol and its capacity to transcend time and history...and provide hope.

I've previously written about landscape elements as metaphors.


JUNG-HILLMAN-SOUL AND COSMOLOGY
On Thursday night 6th June I attended a fascinating presentation at the Queensland Jung Soc. I have been a member for a few years. The presentation was given by Suzanne Cremin-Davidson, the Society's current president and PhD candidate in depth psychology at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Here's a LINK that will take you to a short description of Suzanne's talk plus more information about her.

Suzanne spoke in depth about Jung, his student and colleague James Hillman and soul. The description of 'soul as perspective' grabbed my attention... as regular readers will understand! It got me thinking about concepts of soul in an age where cosmology is revealing more and more, as I wrote above, about the close and far distances of the Universe, even Multiverse. Suzanne also spoke about soul as something not just within us, but also all around us, immersing us, as if we and everything else is Soul. SO... multiple perspectives experienced simultaneously... is Soul!? Certainly, Hillman apparently described soul in a multiple of ways eg: as landscape, perspective, beauty and more. Yet, aren't these all just different perspectives? Rather than seeming a bit slippery, maybe Hillman was touching upon the agency of multi-perspective? So back to cosmology...will cosmology not only help us understand our literal environment, which is the Universe/Multiverse, but also provide a wonderful metaphoric cradle for us to 'see' ourselves, in all aspects, differently...and from multiple perspectives...even simultaneously...may I suggest, soulfully?


DETAIL Other Worlds, Ahoy! Oil on linen


COSMIC ADDRESS
My next solo exhibition
Coming 15-27 OCTOBER
For some images and details Click HERE

THE ART LIFE
 A few weeks ago three of my paintings were featured on Australian art news and reviews site The Art Life's New Work Friday Click HERE to view

Until next time!
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

Sunday, June 02, 2013

UNTETHERED LANDSCAPE

 
Untethered Landscape Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm

UNTETHER: release or free from a tether: [Oxford Dictionary]

Regular readers will know that I have previously written about my thoughts on untethering notions of l'andscape' from being Earth bound. Probably my most succinct description of this was the short statement I wrote for the Australian art blog/site The Art Life's New Work Friday:

I am interested in untethering notions of landscape from being Earth-bound. In an age where modern cosmological research is revealing more of the vast and intimate distances of the universe, new perspectives become apparent. Exciting postulations that we may live in a multiverse also propel ideas of perspective, both literal and metaphoric, into other realms where the ability to ‘see’ multi perspectives, even simultaneously, is possible and demanded. In my recent paintings I continue my visual exploration of close and far distances, and perspective in deliberately ambiguous ‘landscapes’ which are both familiar and not.

A couple of 'untethering landscape' previous posts are:
UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE REVOLUTIONARY
TO GROK LANDSCAPE

So to my painting
Untethered Landscape above.

Untethered Landscape is both playful and serious. I was inspired by another of my recent paintings called Hope [below]. Hope is a much larger painting. In a sense it takes on a more serious tone, especially because I imagined a post-apocalyptic time, where Earthly landscape was shattered and scattered, thus suggesting a forced and dramatic untethering and separation, ultimately demanding new perspectives. But all is not lost...hence the title Hope! I previously wrote:

In the painting I have nine remnants of 'landscape', with one obviously issuing forth new life. Yes, my tree...the tree-of-life, the tree-of-knowledge lives on in a post apocalyptic 'landscape'! With life and knowledge there is hope...and with hope there is life and knowledge.


Hope Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm
 
In Untethered Landscape I have painted what seems like one remnant of landscape floating in space. As in Hope, a single tree, my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life, offers hope...of life... of course! The whimsically painted blue balls linked by ribbon-like lines suggest an act of freeing...of untethering...like a balloon let go.  
 
Whilst a literal scattering of landscape can be imagined, I am more interested in releasing/untethering notions of what 'landscape' is, from Earth bound horizons, to fully grasp the new perspectives offered by cosmological research and discovery. In freeing ourselves to imagine and experience new perspectives we can truly begin to vision and understand cosmic ones. By doing so we may view ourselves differently, we may see new ways of dealing with pressing global issues...we may fully grasp that Earth is our home, and the Universe is our environment.
 
Of course Untethered Landscape may also be an image of something or someone leaving 'landscape'. The blue balls could be some kind of space ship, weaving its way across the sky into unknown horizons. Or, again it could be a metaphor, for a change in humanity's perspective...and notions of what 'landscape' is.
 
Love ambiguity!
 
COSMIC ADDRESS
My next exhibition:
15-10-13 to 27-10-13 at Graydon Gallery, Brisbane.
I am really excited about this show. Shall keep you posted!
 
Cheers,
Kathryn