Above Image: INVITATION
Oil on linen, h: 40cm x w: 40cm
When the sun emerges from a cloud, the invitation arrives. The sun momentarily lights up the invitation. I linger on the threshold and notice the pull of the forest. Eyes closed, I feel compelled to enter. Have you ever been invited into a forest by the forest itself? Has that path been presented to you? As you linger on the threshold, dare you enter? And where would you go? Read More
Featured image above: The completion of a residency, gouache studies on paper. One month of painting.
“I am always doing that which I cannot do,
in order that I may learn how to do it”.
Picasso
I have been considering how the artist residency at Arteles Creative Centre is set up to maximise the possibility for entering a flow state. A flow state requires both discipline and concentration. It is a state where we integrate our sense of self. In deep states of concentration our consciousness is well ordered, according to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He wrote the book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
What does it mean to live a creactive life? This is a question I’m always thinking about. Many things can hold us back from living creatively. Sometimes we feel bored with the routine of our lives, but are too afraid to make a change. Sometimes we have a strong internal voice against our creative acts and the battle feels overwhelming. Some of us just don’t identify with our imagination and marginalise it. And sometimes we put our creativity off for a future time, limiting ourselves in the moment. Although I refer to all of us here, I know that this is also me. I’ve been in all these places, just like you have.
Trees have their own microclimates. Last spring I walked over a small hill by the roadside and descended into the atmosphere of this large sprawling gum. Gumtrees spread out in their gangly wild way, filling space. I admire how they are just themselves, filling space and breathing. They have presence. This tree felt cool and luscious, inviting me to pause before the shimmering grasses beyond. I wondered if I could paint the atmosphere of this tree? Was that too crazy?
Dear Reader,
I’m busy preparing for my exhibition in September. This exhibition is significant for me as I will present the watercolour paintings I completed as research material for my M.A. in Process Work (or Process Oriented Psychology), along with very recent oil paintings that have continued to grow from this project. Writing a thesis allowed me to give voice to my particular self-reflective practice as an artist. I discovered that the seeds of this practice were present in me as a dreaming child and have shaped my life.
Dear Reader,
I’ve been given the opportunity by a friend to ‘paint the atmosphere at Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo Island’. What a brief! Kangaroo Island is off the south coast of South Australia. South of here is Antarctica. I write this at Vivonne bay, after a great morning of painting the sunrise, eggs for breakfast and coffee for thinking. There is very patchy phone coverage and no internet – bliss. Little wallabies come into the garden in the evening, possums at night, seals in the ocean, and a couple of goannas on the headland. I have a week to observe the colours and rhythms of nature. For reading I have my trusty copy of Carlsons Guide to Landscape Painting, by John F. Carlson. It’s a classic and a good one to immerse myself in my subject. Read More
Dear Reader,
Some days it’s hard to paint, especially if I’ve had a small break. If I’m not painting every day I easily lose momentum. I wake in the morning feeling the effort to get my paints together and face the world to paint outside. I, like many painters suffer a performance anxiety when it comes to painting in public. I’m filled with thoughts like ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, can I just fake it? Should I bother? What if my painting is a failure? Then I check the weather to see if it will help me with an excuse. It’s crazy because I know this as a repeated experience. I’ve discovered a strategy through these difficult moments.
I’m enjoying the practice of small paintings. While undertaking my MA in Process Work (also known as process oriented psychology) I began painting very small. I had to pack up my studio and leave my house to be able to afford my studies in Portland, Oregon. I continued to live in Australia and fly back and forth for the required residencies within the program. It was a very big undertaking and I had to work out for myself how to continue my regular painting practice. Read More
