I had a moment today, when I went to get ready to go out and paint for the first time in weeks, when I felt a real glow remembering the show was on. A moment when I allowed myself to feel the happiness. I went to reach up, to the peg where my studio clothes hang, and there was nothing there. I had taken my track pants and jumper (in fact my beanie and glove too) along with studio items for the ‘shed’ installation. (The photo is in the Gallery pics post on this site.) It is a little slice of the place, in which, the work was born. I went to my husband and said “I am not in my clothes tonight” and he smiled knowingly, they were at the GALLERY! It was very cool! It was nice to share, especially as he had contributed so much.
It’s not easy living with a creative person on a mission! There is much high level energy. Peaks and troughs to bear. Striving for some balance. Thinking deeply and working things through, not to mention, there is a great deal of manual labour involved. The making of frames, the wiring of the backs, the carrying and transporting of paintings. The listening!
I hope people liked the installation. I know the friends who’s exhibition flyers I included, were happy to be in the ‘room’. They understood it was in honor of the inspiration they have offered me along the way. I realised how strongly i felt about the installations inclusion when i could tell the curator was unsure. I told him i was, that every piece on that floor says something about the journey. The color of the empty paint tubes, or the paint on the brushes. The Flyers displaying the influences and the events over that period.Some small part of what my friends and mentors had been doing over that time.The clothing speaks for itself, although the beanie and the glove were in tribute to working solidly through near zero degrees at night, in the studio/shed. The cold lent itself to dancing! I had a lot of movement going on, and it reflected in those particular works.The hot wattle bottle bown the back of my pants must have made me look like a cartoon character though!
I have noted there are various weather conditions that greatly effect the painting. From the more obvious such as temperature and speed of drying layers, to the less imagined, bugs! In spring there a millions of little black bugs. They often fly to their death in a wash of glaze. I have to brush them off the next day before they set. Ocassionally i miss one!