Bored of the inspiration board…

It was time for a change. My studio inspiration board had gotten very cluttered, very colourful, very chaotic…full of images, colours, words, photos, and kids art. It was busy and bright and bold. But mostly busy!

But instead of feeling inspired, I started to feel cluttered and crowded. I wanted space to think. I wanted less, not more. So I took it all down, without thinking or reviewing, or analysing any particular item. I put them in a suitcase with my other papers.  Then I put back up six items. Not six on purpose, just because these six images felt right for right now.

None of the images on the board are mine. One is a beloved print brought in Wellington a few years back that had been rolled up in a drawer  – a watercolour sketch of a hummingbird. Another is a postcard of Paris – both for my dreams to go there one day, and also because it was from a dear friend. Another image is a magazine advertisement image that I like. The final blue image is a photo of the sea found in yet another magazine. The blues are intoxicating beautiful and a reminder of the inherent beauty in nature and beaches.

My “Start Something” paper mantra returned to the wall (as always) and finally, I added the brochure from the “One” exhibition – held in 2013, as a reminder of my past achievements and future plans.

When I look at the wall, I feel optimistic and calm and I can hear myself think. Right now, I like that.

Sometimes inspiration boards need a little inspiration too!

On twilights eve…

When the sun sets every single day over the sea, it isn’t hard to get a really lovely sunset moment. But this image, in its pure simplicity is one of my recent favourites. It’s a little reminder that sometimes you can say more with less.

Got the blues….

Walking is a great way to really notice things around you. I would never have given these small flowers growing over a fence a second look had I been in a car; and an opportunity would have literally passed me by. They were so sweet, wild and overgrown through a fence.

I notice also that blue has been featuring very prominently in many of my images recently. I also bought a painting recently – pale blues mostly. A favourite of my own paintings is entirely blue also. This blue phase surprises me, as although I love the entire range of sea blues and the changing blue hues of the sky (and constantly photograph both) it is the inky-almost black shade of indigo that I love most of all the blues. I think it sets off these wild flowers rather well.

I might have the blues after all…yes…a faded pair of jeans, a blue-black night sky, a child with the purest blue eyes I ever looked into and a touch of wistful melancholy.

Outside the comfort zone…

Victorian_print

You may have noticed that I haven’t been doing any photography recently, or any painting. Or blogging for that matter. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been creative. I have in fact been pushing myself in an entirely new but related creative direction – getting to grips with digital media  and learning how to use Photoshop for creative expression.  Here is one of two “creatures” I have had to create from 10 of my other photographs – a composite image. It’s not technically perfect (I am a beginner in this area, after all), but it is part of my creative journey of creating and exploring and learning. True  to my own style, it is full of symbols, includes text, has rich colour, high contrast, and a sense of drama. I hope it creates a feeling that there is a story to be told. It is one of two images that attempt to answer  questions about ancestry and belonging.

Here is the other image. They are very different but both part of the same story.

tui lady for print 27062013

When we challenge ourselves creatively (or mentally or physically) and push outside of our comfort zone, when we shun the familiar and comfortable and when we try something different, new, challenging or difficult – its not easy. It can feel scary, intimidating and weird. You can feel, like I did, clumsy and awkward, and deeply frustrated at times.  But now  I can see the effort was worth it… this is literally “my ideas brought to life by me” through new skills I have learned. That’s a nice feeling for any artist – to be challenged and to grow creatively.

A dance on the dark side…

The dance of light and dark, movement and stillness. A fleeting but captured moment.

This image captures all that I love about abstract art. I can imagine it as a huge printed image hung on a massive wall on the side of a building. Maybe one day it will be….who knows?

It is a photograph. It is an image. It is abstract. It is real. I love it. It speaks to me of stories of love and loss, fleeting glances and chance encounters. Risk, passion and betrayal. Darkness and finding light.

Picture stories

For the exhibition it was important to tell some of my stories, musings and meanderings from my blog. This is one of ten picture stories that will be on display. I was not really sure how it would work out as i havent seen a blog displayed as art before. I am curious as to what others will make of them.

Celebrate Christmas

Celebrate is the focus for the letter C of this miscellaneous and somewhat meandering Christmas Alphabet.

My humble thought is this. To Celebrate the joy of Christmas, find a Child. They will show you the way.

Amongst the ghosts of friends…

I came across these today in an old book, amongst a pile of old collected books and miscellaneous papers we have inherited. I know what they are. They are called “the ghosts of friends”. These ones date back to 1910 – 1920’s, I know, as they are dated and signed. They are fascinating, a tiny bit spooky, and mostly very elegant and beautiful pieces of a lost art…an oddly strange, whimsical but weird combination, I think.

If you know what they are, you may enjoy them. If you don’t, well, I’ll leave you guessing…why spoil a perfectly good mystery?

Where the green meets the blue…

This is a new painting. It is inspired by a quote, “You come from where the green meets the blue”. It’s a quote that has always stayed with me, permanently etched in my brain for some unknown reason. My painting is titled unsurprisingly “Where the green meets blue” (2012).

The quote is found in the beautiful photographic book “Keepers of the Spirit – Stories of Nature and Humankind” by photographer Chris Rainier (Beyond Words Publishing Inc, 1993).

Like several of my other paintings is very dark, dark blues, indigo and blue blacks, and the darkest of greens. It is almost entirely black at first glance. It only comes to life when the light hits it and reflects the deep colours and textures.

Although the quote is about different civilisations very far from here, I think it is a fitting description of the place where the deep green bush and lush green paddocks dramatically meet the varied and deep blues of the west coast sea, the sea without end, the place I call home.

A plan is formed…

Sometimes inspiration hits you like a huge wallop, things that seemed vague and loose suddenly crystallise into something so obvious that you wonder why it took so long to think of it. This morning I woke up and made two decisions.

Firstly, I AM going to enter the Taranaki Art Awards (our most prestigious local art competition) again this year, even though up until now I thought I would pass on it this year.

Secondly, I am going to plan an exhibition of my work, to date. A real exhibition! It’s going to basically tell the story of my journey so far and be split into 3 media – paintings, mixed media pieces and photography. I have not exhibited any mixed media and very little of my photography.

I also want to include my blog and the blogging community (preferably interactive rather than as a static display) so that’s a bit of a challenge to think about how best to do that. Any ideas welcome!

I hope to achieve the following:
1. To build my profile as an artist (in painting, mixed media, photography and writing)
2. To see a collection of my work in one place instead of spread across various places and stored, so I can see it as a group of items and understand if there is any common threads/themes.
3. To let others comment and critique my work and learn from that
4. To hopefully even sell some pieces (not all pieces in the exhibition will be for sale)
5. To strengthen my relationships with other artists both in NZ and through the blogging community around me.

A blurry cloud of uncertainty and doubt has been replaced with clear vision and finally I know what I need to do.