The Artsy Aussie
The Artsy Aussie
Podcast - In Person Experience - Episode 4
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In Person Experience Podcast – Epidode 4

 

Pod Cast Transcript:

Hi!  Thank you so much for joining me for, week four of my podcast.  Um, this week I’m going to be talking to you about, a very special painting, for me, well they’re all special to me, but this one is very special her name is Flow.

But to start things off I’m going to just uh, drop down the dates of things, cities, that I’m coming to, ideas for some of the events that are upcoming.  The first big one is Fuel and Flow. That’s going to be in Idaho falls on May 11th. So, if you’re a yogi and you like all things yoga, this is a great event for you to attend.  Um, it’s a one day conference, your lunch is provided, there will be a fashion show, bit of fun in the middle. And then of course all things amazingly awesomely yoga. So if you’re interested in coming, um, Fuel and Flow is a good one to get on your event calendar.  I’ll also be doing a kickoff at Healing Hands, we’re looking at May 11th and 18th for that. Go to Pride in Utah, June 1st and 2nd. I’m looking to go to Paradiso in June, and also to Seattle Pride this year to celebrate there with them. Um, I would like to go to Boise’s Pride this year.  I’m just trying to see if that can fit into my schedule. And then of course I’ll be going to San Diego Pride as well. And then a lot of other festivals and, um, events in there. For example The Goddess Festival in Boise that’s in July, so lots of great events coming up.

Um, I’m very excited to see everybody in person and bring my work so that you can see it in person.  It’s a very different experience. Um, it is, it’s the reason, why I paint, I think. Um, I mean painting them and not showing them to anyone seems like a foolish choice.  Uh, you know I’ve been creating since I was 12 years old, and painting seriously, since I was 12 years old, and one of the reasons why I chose this specific painting to talk about today, um, she goes so perfectly with Clarity which will relate to my Che’CAST, because they really do go together.  Um, anyway let’s just jump right into talking about Flow this week. So, she is, um, she’s very large. She’s 48 by 60. She’s an oil on canvas, and at the time in my life, this was painted in 2013. I had just done a really amazing show, in fact it was the best show of my life. It was in Sweet Pea, Montana.  Uh, Sweet Pea Festival in Montana. And, I’ve never sold more originals in my life. I mean it’s, it just seemed like everybody that came in, was just waiting to come in to support my work. And, the result of that was that I came home and spent more than half of what I made, on paint and canvas. And that was a significant investment in, you know, my future career as an artist.  And Flow is one of the pieces that came from that. I, I purchased 6 of the largest canvases I had ever purchased and enough paint to paint those canvases.

Now this canvas was resting against my stairway, in the house that I was living in.  And, I came in from my day job. And, I was looking at the canvas and I could just see her.  Nothing else. I could just see her on the canvas, exactly the way she looks. And I literally just took out a pencil, I think it was one of my children’s pencils actually.  I took out a pencil and I just sketched her on there. And, she just was so, like, she was so gorgeous to me. The way her body was, and her long arms, and her big face, and big eyes, and big beautiful lips.  Anyway, I couldn’t see anything else of the colors, I could just see her form and shape. And, so I let it sit, and I took the canvas into my studio space, and I set her up on an easel. And, like always I looked over at my paints and I picked the three that stood out to me that day.  And, it was this, deep yellow, this cadmium yellow. And, this blue that I work with a lot which is Phthalo blue, and it’s the red shade. And, uh, I just started working that background.

So just behind the trees, just that color that’s in the background there.  And while I was working that background, I started seeing the Karri trees in Australia.  The forests, especially in Western Australia where I grew up. Just these trees that go up, and up, and up, and up.  And the smell is so amazing. But I started seeing these trees, and I could see them really clearly actually, while I was working this background.  And so I went with it. This, this piece is truly about flow. I mean I flowed through this whole piece, about the colors that I used, and the way that they would look, and the way that they would flow.

Now, before I got to the point of actually painting her.  I had a rather significant life event, that, um, was, it, it gave me a deep grieving.  I went through a deep grieving, and in that time in my life I was facing emotions that, oh, they’re tough.  Big tough emotions. And, I was sad, and I was, really in that depth of, when it’s sadness grips you. And I really didn’t want to be here anymore.  I was so sad. And, I think that’s why she’s green the way that she. The, the way that she disappears into the background. And, the spark of life is what is keeping her.  She’s, she’s bound.

Now the other meaning of this piece is also that she brings life to everything that she touches.  When you see it in real life, you can see that with her foot touches, in the point, that it’s ripples, of, ripples of energy that, and the flowers are blooming from where her foot is touching.  And that she has a very light touch, on the Earth. And there all kinds of little, little… beings, around here, there’s, dragonflies and little fairies, and, just beautiful life bursting out of this woman.  Out of Flow. And, so personally in my own life, I was feeling very sad. But this painting, like, it was a so therapeutic. It pulled me through this journey that I was on, with the grieving process. And, it makes sense that I would think of these beautiful trees in Australia, you know that comfort from home.  It’s, so it makes sense that all these elements are in this painting for me.

And another part, was, um, that was significant for me about this piece was, that I really wanted the ground to feel like water and land.  That it wasn’t just, um, you know a solid Earth, that it was rippling and moving and, changeable. And then the feeling of, the color and look of the trees that are in Australia.  Especially in that early morning light. The dark brown of the wood. The deep, wetness from the dew, and, oh, it’s just, it’s so pretty.

It reminds me, um, when I was a young woman I went and stayed in a place called Oberon, in New South Wales with my brother.  And, it reminds me of this, that place to. It was, really magical, and, but Flow herself is, about creative energy, and creative force, and being lit up.  All the way lit up. You can see that, you know, she’s lit up all through the chakra lines and into her crown. And it’s, it’s all the reds, and the oranges, and the yellows.  A lot of red obviously, when you’re going through grief, you really do feel the, like presence of being a physical being, and that we are so very physically here.

And then the poppies at the feet of her again, because, you know, those poppies symbolize, what we give up for war, you know, we pay for war with our blood and with our life.  And it’s just, uh, not worth it. It’s just not worth it. War is not worth it.

And, OK, so that’s, that’s pretty much it.  Um, with what I’m going to go over with clarity this week.  And uh, I hope you enjoy, if you ever get to see her in person I hope you enjoy the journey, of, your eyes traveling around this canvas, and seeing all the little things that are in there.

So, uh, the last thing that I have for you this week, is the, promotion CHEDAYS.  C, H, E, D, A, Y, S. In celebration for Spring and beautiful Flow, and, uh, the, the gorgeousness that is bursting forth in my life right now.  Outside, is still a sea of ice and whiteness. But the sun has come this last week and I can see grass, and greenness, and in just a short amount of time our trees out here will start budding, and greenness and, life will be back.  Nothing helps you appreciate, what spring feels like, quite like an Idaho winter. Truly, I have great gratitude and appreciation for what is about to burst forth for me. And I tell you, living on this beautiful farm, and walking outside, and all the, fruit trees, that bloom, and all the flowering trees that we have on our property, it’s just, the gorgeous aroma and fragrance, that smacks you in the face when you walk outside in the morning, and then hearing all the amazing birds, just.  After the silence of winter that noise is so incredible.

So, OK, well that, OK, that’s it for me this week.  Again CHEDAYS is available for you for 20% off, online orders, and… I will see you next week.