2010 - Faster - Weirder!

Well, it seems my paintings have made it to Bologna for the "Small Treasures" exhibition in May at the Galleria de' Marchi.

 Above is the painting I executed for last show which didn't make it due to the economic downturn and now this time around, we have the volcano in Iceland doing it's thing.....just a reminder of my current theme for painting - Climate Change.

I must say I just love it when Mother Earth behaves badly! Just as we hear that there's a One World Order creating Carbon Credits to bring climate change under control (? what's that about), ol' mum lets off enough pollution to remind us just who is charge.

Of course if you live in those big battery sheds called cities, you hardly ever get out to see how awesome nature really is and so you can imagine in your mind that man is really in charge......for those of us however, that live out in nature, just one summer storm reminds us to be on the lookout.

"The Eye of the Eagle" exhibition at Jayes in Molong went really well and was received with interest by all who came along. Many were surprised at how positive the show was as they were expecting something gloomy but really, I just paint the beauty of the earth as I see it and despite what we do to her. I focused on landscapes from an aerial perspective as seen by the eagle in flight. As I googled my way across the earth daily, I found amazing patterns and places that inspired me to put paint to canvas in the brightest of colours trying to capture the eagle's pentachromatic vision.

Here's one that I did for "Small Treasures". I was inspired by the recent flooding of our inland. I think this one is called "Flooded Outback" but can't be sure, such is the state of my thinking this year! If you look close, you'll see the little farmhouse caught in the middle of islands between the floodwaters with all the roads closed.

It has been such a busy year and so far, too much to do and think about. The floods have been amazing though and right across our land bringing relief to our drought stricken land which is the 'boom and bust' nature of Australia.

I just love this place. It's so amazing to be alive here and now! and to be able to see it all from Google Earth - what a fantastic invention!

I wish you all the best out there in lala land! Keep sane amongst the madness of it all!

Early Morning Australia

I don't know why but I just had to get out of bed at sparrow's fart this morning and head off for a walk/stumble in the bush. Of course, my fave spot of the moment is Gosling Creek. So off I went.

I think it was the fact that for the first time in a while, we had clouds in the sky, a promise maybe of rain but certainly of a colourful sunrise. Clean crisp and cool air.....not to be wasted I felt! The recent heat has made me very thankful for the early breeze of morning.

And there's always the beauty of watching nature paint the early morning sky.....that blend of colours, that big soft water colour, an amazing thing to watch and for me, it had been too long since I had gone out and appreciate the sunrise and bird songs.

And there's the other thing, nature painting the trees as the sun rises, the way the light captures the beauty of the branches and the eternal clear light of Australia. It's a beautiful place, inspiring and ancient.

Although out of focus, an effect I rather like as it reminds me of a soft water colour work, the light and colours of the early morning amongst our trees is always wonderful to catch.

Well, this week has seen the last of the paintings for my next show at Jayes and I am glad to be able to rest again at last. The year ahead is quite daunting with 6 shows, 2 of them overseas and 2 in major cities......it'll be a big year! As well, I am hoping to catch a trip outback......whew!

But bring it on! One day at a time and I'll be there!

Hope you have a great day painting and being inspired. Do stop and smell the roses or at least take a break and look out at the world in wonder.

"The Eye of the Eagle"

 "Gorge and engorged" 68 cm x 48 cm Mixed Media on D'Arches

This recent month has seen me hard at work in my studio imagining flying over the deserts of Central Australia as an eagle and then putting this down on paper. I was amazed whilst reading up on eagles and how they see, to learn that they have pentachromatic vision (we have tetrachromatic). Eagles can see ultraviolet and infrared colours - so Wow!

Pondering the complexity of this, I felt that they saw far more brightly than we did and so I pushed a few colours round in Photoshop to see what effects I could get. All this dreaming and fiddling around has led to very colourful exhibition indeed. At first I found it too much but as I settled into it, the paintings burned into my soul and I now feel quite at home with them and their intense colours.

Why eagles and why now? Firstly, recent heatwaves have crossed the country leaving it bare and exposed, dry and parched. Daily reminders of the planet getting hotter, have left me wondering once again about Climate Change; is it real, why does it happen and what does it mean?

I don't have answers to this although I find it extraordinarily fascinating......like most of us I believe.

Australia is the driest and harshest continent on the planet with the most ancient and exposed soils. Millions of years have passed and former mountains have eroded down into floodplains and deserts. These cover over 90 % of Australia. The colours when viewed from a plane, are bright reds, oranges and yellows with tracks and dry river beds crisscrossing the land.

Secondly, I feel, if we could read the land, if we could understand the patterns and their meanings, then just maybe we could learn to live with the earth successfully. We could stop building cities on fertile lands and fields, we could build for temperature and climate changes, we could do things better. It's true we've survived for almost 5 million years but the recent upswing in our skills has hurt the planet more than ever before and now we worry about our own survival as a species for probably the first time ever in our history.

I have painted these paintings from a deep part of myself that yearns for a greener place, a safer place but at the same time is amazed and drawn to the wondrous colours of the earth.

Australia may be the oldest and most exposed place right now, but believe me, it's where other countries are headed over the next few thousands of years as the glaciers dry up and and the mountains erode down to floodplains and deserts. Look at this place, Australia and learn for this is where you are headed. It is not a country that can sustain many more people than it currently does......it is not the lucky country it once was.......and we will need to move whole towns and populations as the heat increases and the desert continues to grow ever larger.

There is no doubt in my mind that human activity here in this 'sacred' place has exacerbated the rate of desertification. The ripping out of whole forests, the ploughing and chemical spraying of large tracks of land, the channeling of water away from floodplains and marshlands continues today despite the warnings written already in our land and able to be seen by the eagles looking for their old hunting grounds.

Try looking at the earth through 'the eye of the eagle'!

The exhibition can be seen at Jayes Gallery in Molong NSW from 5 February to 7 March or online closer to that date.