NEW HOPE MILL FINGERLAKES NEW YORK

Today i took the boys out for a photo shoot at New Hope Mills as part of our homeschooling art lessons......Mostly because it was a great opportunity to take a load of photos and the weather was very snowy therefore I knew the results would be effective snow is such a great contrasting backdrop .... especially as Jye is just learning to use his new Nikon cool pix camera.

It was also a good opportunity for me to force myself to drive in inclement snowy weather.... and not let it put me off driving. As a western Australian in New York.... driving the boy's around in the snow is not something i have yet become easily accustomed to and it still is a bit of a challenge on very blowing snowy days.  But then..... now when i go out i don't exactly see a lot of vehicles on the road either..... seems everyone else is at home! Except for the truck drivers. Certainly there was no one stomping around the old Mill. It was a great opportunity to do some local area exploration and for the boys to have an experience they can connect some future historical information to for the rest of the week.

 

 

WINTER SOLSTICE 2009

What an interesting year it has been since last winter solstice..... one of the most whirlwind in a while for me....Lots of changes and growth and dissapointment and joy and sadness all wrapped up into one.






My own personal focus is on creating as broadbased sustainable home for my husband and boys that is both sanctuary and inspiration. The world is moving in some disturbing ways at the moment.... and to be honest i have some significant concerns. It isn't just a question of Business As Usual anymore.... there seems to me to be an underlying malignancy in the world governments with regard to many issues. Most significantly the issue of overshoot or an economy based on an ever expanding resource base. Failed and finite as it is.... this way of looking at the world is not sustainable. Not only that but i feel it is already too late to make significant world wide changes needed to create a soft landing insofar as the majority of the worlds population is concerned. Peak carring capacity comes to mind.You can't help but think it isn't going to end well.






New Image.... DarkNight Tree..... Winter Solstice 2009

PAINTERS USE COMPUTERS TOO......

NOMAD SERIES

The Nomad Series of artworks began in September 2005 when i returned from my first trip to the US for the art4people international Art exhibition. Many of the artists involved were all members of the same art site.....Artwanted. Artists whose work I had discovered through the medium of the internet and the computer....These people I can now call friends and have truly inspired and informed my art practice and opened my eyes to the 'bigger art picture'........Patrick Miller, Derek Shockey, Meghan Henley, and of course the Exhibition Catalyst and Event Organizer .... the indefatigable Jessica Torrant

As part of staying organized with my art i spend some time on the computer to both look at other art and to post my own to a few different sites.... some have different functions and some are better than others.....

This has become a fundamental tool of the artist in 2006 and as such one cannot really beat it for learning.... and also to communicate quickly and effectively with other artists..... I see this as becoming interwoven into the very fabric of creating..... the organic nature of it allows one to communicate with people who live great distances apart and may not even speak the same language.... a *Reverse Tower of Babel* so to speak.

Perhaps where artists are living will become less important and what artists create will be greater valued as a result......I see only good in that....... taking art into the world through a myriad of little pathways creates more entry points for both the artist and the viewer,.... after all art IS for everyone......

Paintings within Paintings REDREAMING.... THE BEGINNING

One of the most important elements of art is its ability to surprise and connect with the viewer. To see within an image that 'something' to connect to on whatever level .... to explore the idea behind Paintings within Paintings I would have to begin by saying that the starting point was the philosophy of my life.....the old 'half empy half full glass' adage..... and one's perceptions which one faces everyday living.

I always see the 'something that is there' rather than the something that is not... but to that end one also has to also have the CONTRAST..... the very duality gives it some sort of measurement and value.....

In exploring the 'full lived life' i also starting playing with light and dark......and again that duality to me was of interest in its ability to make its 'opposite' VISIBLE'.........

Then i made a jump..... i wanted to do this with my paintings......layering of meanings along with the paint and fabrics and icons..... so i started experimenting not only with metallics.... which i had been playing with for years... but also with glo paint in conjunction with gouache.......to create a hidden layer and a hidden meaning within the canvas.......... for eyes that could see and hearts that could feel...... to redream.....

It has taken me a long time to get this to the point where i am now able to use this with some form of both control and deliberateness.... it has been an enjoyable journey and the story is still being written this has sooooooo many places to go to.....and there is sooooooo much i want to do with it........just watch and see!

To the handful of people who have 'seen'........i have learned so much and from the sharing comes new ideas and new journeys ... thats where artists NEED other artists..... to bounce and reflect back the creative ideas........



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