Lessons in Awe ...

I recently had reason to have an ultrasound of my heart - it’s all good! turns out my heart is working just as it should albeit a bit slower than others.

I have to tell you it was actually an amazing experience - watching and listening to my own heart in real time … mesmerizing and at times it made me catch my breath! I am truly grateful that it has kept working so well for all these decades!!!!

Lesson 1 - awe is within you and with you every day

The second lesson came in the flash of a screen saver on the TV … a photo of two little birds with the most wonderful colouring! Rainbow Bee-eaters I think and quite breath taking! Nature can deliver awe in all shapes and sizes!

Then I came across an article by neuroscientist/journalist Richard Sima published in the Washington Post with the title “Why it is awesome that your brain can experience awe”

He describes awe as “a response to encountering something more vast, complex or mind-blowing than we had conceived of either physically or conceptually. The experience also induces a change in how we see the world, producing ‘little earthquakes in the mind’. …. Over the course of our lives our brain learns to encode what ‘normal’ is and predict what we think should happen next, based on our internal understanding of the world. That prediction of what happens next guides our behavior. It is crucial for being able to function in this incredibly complicated world. …. But it does narrow our perspective, it narrows our vision”

The article goes on to say that …

“Emerging research shows that experiencing awe may make us more curious, creative and compassionate people. …. By transforming our sense of self and meaning, and enhancing our relationship with others and the wider world, awe has the power to improve our mental and physical health.

So the next question is how to experience more awe!

Richard Sima suggests :-

• viewing something giant ie a mountain range or ocean

• discovering something tiny such as the worlds seen through a microscope

• contemplating a piece of music or discovering a piece of art

• taking ‘awe’ walks through your neighbourhood or nature …

So I’ve been thinking about awe and in particular the Rainbow Bee Eaters and have been playing with a new palette … just to see if I can capture a little of their magic!

So the next question is how to experience more awe!

Richard Sima suggests :-

• viewing something giant ie a mountain range or ocean

• discovering something tiny such as the worlds seen through a microscope

• contemplating a piece of music or discovering a piece of art

• taking ‘awe’ walks through your neighbourhood or nature …

So I’ve been thinking about awe and in particular the Rainbow Bee Eaters and have been playing with a new palette … just to see if I can capture a little of their magic!

and I am on the trail of experience more awe in my life! How about you?

Thank you for reading, I appreciate your time and interest in my art …. CC Always

Lily's Story

Early this year Lily Lacey-Hastings crossed my path - or rather she found me!

Lily describes herself as an art historian and collector of treasures. She runs an Instagram site called @thewunderkammerof_lilye - a delightful collection of art treasures old and new.

Lily’s special talent is her ability to describe a work of art in a way that brings it to life and you see it anew.

Her process is to select contemporary art from across the world and set it in the context of the artists who have inspired the work - which provides a gentle tour through historical and contemporary art.

It has been a delight to be part of this process and have one of my works ‘Blue Sky Day’ included.

Lily selected one of my ‘Songs from the Garden’ series made earlier this year - here is what she wrote:-

‘Blue Sky Day’

“Look high above.

See how hopes fly in free as a bird blues and downy white skies.

In a comfort of clouds with contemporary artist ….

She set the image in context with two of my most favourite artists , Grace Cossington Smith an Australian artist who lived not far from where I grew up … and Matisse!

Having someone from outside your circle write about their response to one of your artworks gives you a whole new perspective and some feel for how others may see your work. The comments in response to the post were also very heartening … we artists are such harsh critics of our own work!

If you are on Instagram you can find Lily’s page at ….

https://www.instagram.com/thewunderkammerof_lilye

or visit her website at https://www.thewunderdammeroflilye.com

Thank you for reading, your time and interest is appreciated. CC Always

Magnolias and New Work

Late July/Early August is still quite cold here - well cold for Berry, and especially so this year … yet the garden is starting to stir and that sense of the seasons changing is tangible.

The days are lengthening and the fat buds of the Magnolia’s in my garden are opening with masses of pale pink flowers.

It’s not a long lasting display, especially if winds or rains arrive but it is spectacular … and it fills me with hope!

I am just starting on a new set of stretched canvases so how could I resist starting the canvases with Magnolia’s!

Some blind contour drawing (concentrating on the subject and not what is happening on the surface!) using charcoal and then a little of the dreamy pink! Most of this will be hidden as the work develops.

There will be more drawing at the later stages using water colour pencils.

The finished works will be abstract but I hope they will feel like a late winters day with the warmth of the soft pinks, hinting at what is to come.

To help keep freshness in the work I have decided to limit the number of layers, it is so easy to think I’ll just add a little more pink here or change that shape a little which inevitably means that something else needs to change! …. this way I’ll stop and let it be …..

And that is where I’m at …. liking this piece and the direction of this work …. there will be more to come!

Thanks for reading, I appreciate your time and support ….. CC

Soft pink winter buds

Petals scattered by the wind

So it begins!

Always

Inspirations Revisited

When I started CVP last year one of our first tasks was to create an inspiration board - it seemed a bit daunting at the time! In addition to gathering the visual content I also spent some time writing about those inspirations.

The board has hung on my studio wall since then and while the photo’s are a great reminder of what inspires me, it has been interesting to revisit what I wrote!

Now I look at it closely, the thing that really jumps out at me is this quote from Rumi ….

‘Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray’

Nick Wilton recommended we should review these inspiration boards on a regular basis so 12 months on seems like a good time!

When I consider the images I selected for the original board and compare them with the images I have put together this week (see above) … the subject matter has not changed greatly but I can see that they are all located much closer to home … and also with a closer framing ie closer to the subject and not so much distant landscape - an impact of Covid perhaps? or being clearer about what it is that I love?

I can also see that in both sets of images there are a number of strong underlying themes ….

light shining through trees or clouds; sunrise and sunset; branching structures / V shapes in plants and leaves and patterns of leaves, flowers.

Now to see how these elements translate into abstract forms and composition ideas in my sketchbook!

Thank you for reading …. I appreciate you time and support. CC

Searching for Glow ...

Earlier this year I was working on a group of 12 inch square canvases using a palette of greens and some golds.

One of the things I particularly like about these pieces were the areas that appeared to glow … a golden light.

I find I am particularly drawn to that sense of ‘glow’ in the natural world … a beautiful sunrise or sunset for example and something that is very pleasing when I find it in my painting!

So what does colour theory have to say about ‘glow’ …

David Hornung in his excellent book “Colour: A workshop for Artists and Designers” talks about inherent light …. “ the sensation of light emanating from within a colour … the experience of inherent light seems to be a psychological response. It can best be described as an inner glow that a colour seems to have in relation to other colours.”

David Hornung goes on to explain that this ‘inner glow’ is related to a colours saturation ie a muted colour might glow when seen with duller colours and inherent light seems most pronounced when colours are close in value and disparate in temperature.

Having gained this knowledge the challenge is to put it into practice in my painting!

Over recent weeks I have been working on a series of 18ins square stretched canvases using a palette of blues and Australian sienna. I’m still contemplating these before I call them done ….

For me these works are intended to capture the energy of the morning …. going out into the garden with my ginger cat, to greet the morning and the promise of the new day!

Faced with a long lasting wet weather pattern here on the south coast of Australia, trying to find that glow in my paintings has taken on even more significance … I am craving some sunshine!

Thank you for reading and taking an interest in my art …. CC

Always

Text and Lyrics ...

For the last couple of days there has been a song stuck in my head and almost on constant replay!

It’s a song from the movie ‘Babe’ … not sure if its the words or the melody that grabs me - it goes

“If I had the words to make a day for you, I’d sing you a morning golden and new”

I’ve also recently become aware that words and writing are more important to me than I had realised and are closely associated with the ‘why’ of my art and its content.

In a past life, writing reports, presentations and speeches was a big part of my job, but not so much in recent years … except for this journal which I started in March 2016 and which surprisingly includes 88 posts!

Words first started to appear in my art in 2019 when I stitched some haiku , written specially, as a quilting design on some works made with photographs on fabric ….

'Golden Days'

Golden Days (detail)

Transit of Autumn (detail)

With the move to collage and paint in 2021, the opportunities to incorporate words and writing into my art expanded.

It began with using text in the form of magazine and book pages as collage materials… my process is to build up the early layers with collage text, mark making and writing, building the story as I go.

The writing …. words, haiku, song lyrics …. hand written thoughts and feelings becomes the heart of the story, although mostly covered by paint or new collage layers some areas remain partly visible, not to be read but to create an energy and sometimes texture, that underlies the work.

Summer Breeze (detail1)

Summer Breeze (detail2)

'Summer Breeze'

Old paperback books and references like ‘Seasons of Content’ and Dictionary of Gardening and text from old copies of my favourite magazine Gardens Illustrated have all found a place in my ‘Songs from the Garden’ series. I’ve written quotes, lines of poetry and my own haiku occasionally too.

All these elements help me to give meaning to the work and to shape the final piece.

When it comes to the two canvasses I’m just starting to work on, the writing includes the songs lyrics that have been stuck in my head …..

Let’s see what evolves from here !

Thank you for reading, I appreciate your interest in my art. CC

Always

Symphony ......

Starting out on a new series with a mixture of paint and collage, I set some parameters for the series in terms of size, colour palette and mix of substrates etc.

And yet it felt a bit overwhelming with all I had learned in the change to working with paint and collage and the many ways of putting it all together!

While I was contemplating getting started and perhaps procrastinating a little bit! …… Daniel Pink’s book , ‘A Whole New Mind’ crossed my path. This is not a new book, it was published in 2008. It’s main premise is that the future belongs to right brain thinkers and outlines 6 fundamental elements that will be essential to professional success and personal fulfilment.

What was most interesting to me was the concept of ‘symphony’ . It is the idea of seeing the connections between diverse and seemingly separate elements and putting them together to create something new by working across boundaries, by inventing new combinations or by understanding one thing in terms of something else ie using metaphor. In other words the work of the artist!

Daniel Pink has lots of suggestions for developing this skill of symphony, for example:-

- listen to the great symphonies,

- follow the links ie “choose a topic you find interesting and type it into a search engine and follow one of the links. From this initial site select one of its links and venture on’

- keep a metaphor log writing down compelling and surprising metaphors you encounter.

He also suggested creating an inspiration or mood board “each time you see something that you find compelling - a photo, a piece of fabric, the page of a magazine - tack it to the board. Before long you will start to see connections between images that will enliven and expand your work”

So the mood board became a key resource and starting place for the new series and as it continues to develop and change so does the artwork!

Here is how the series is looking so far …

I am looking forward to seeing how it continues to develop and will definitely be building ‘symphony’ practice and mood/inspiration boards into my ongoing practice and art process.

Thanks for reading …. I appreciate your time and interest. CC

A Journey into Black and White

In Art2Life’s .Creative Visionary Program (CVP) the No 1 focus is on value and design, beginning with working in black and white …..

• to experience the true power of value;

• to explore the ‘Loud Conversation’ - areas of greatest value contrast;

The process starts with a play session ….. and I chose to work on three panels.

Black and white acrylic paint, a stencil, a leaf and an instruction to play.

Starting with white panels and no plans …. a landscape feel is starting to emerge.

Second pass. Added a black panel to the mix to see what difference it would make.

We are learning to ask … where is the loud conversation (areas of high contrast) and where does your eye travel? Are there barriers or a bullseye that limits movement? Are there differences/similarities that could be adjusted to improve the design?

The dark values in these panels seem to be mostly around the edges leading towards corridors?

The black panel was definitely more of a challenge to start with.

Third pass. Trying to address design issues and focus on differences.

Plenty of room to improve value and design …. especially with the benefit of a bit of distance (time and space)!

I will come back to these at a later date ….

Have enjoyed working in black and white …. maybe the beginnings of a new series?

Thank you for reading … I appreciate your time and interest ….CC

New Adventure!

After all the uncertainty and constraints of the last year or so with COVID, I’ve been looking for something that will ‘light me up’ and give me a new burst of energy!

Late last year I started to explore the world of collage and mixed media, not unrelated to the fused applique techniques of textile art. I moved from using just textiles to working with paint, paper and fabric. Here are a few of my explorations ….

What I’ve discovered is that there is a world of possibilities when paint is added to the mix and much for me to learn and explore!

So I’ve signed up for the Art2Life CVP 2021 course - 12 weeks of exploring the possibilities of acrylic paint and more!

I’m not sure where it will take me and where textiles will fit but I’m excited and looking forward to the journey.

The first couple of weeks have been focussed on what inspires us, what we want our art to be and the Art2Life process. Now we are about to get into the painting! Such fun!

Thank you for reading and taking an interest in my art. I’ll be back soon with and update on my progress!

CC