Story behind the work: ‘Woman with flowers’
‘Abstract woman with flowers’. 2020. Acrylic on canvas.
Apparently I am an ambivert. I am energetic and loud relishing time spent with others but after a while I need time alone to process and recharge. Too much solitude however and I become restless. Sometimes I wonder if this is why I was attracted to finishing two degrees: one Bachelor of Visual Art (a pathway to studio solitude and engaging with personal thoughts to create art) and a Bachelor of Fine Art in Acting (a pathway to energetic stage plays, collaboration with others on set and opportunities to vocally and physically express).
Though my original dream was to invest in a creative life for myself that would involve collaboration in theatre and film as projects arose and painting away in my studio the rest of the time I was dismayed to acknowledge that after I arrived in Sydney my life had become mostly my day-job, with auditions crammed into lunch breaks, and dabbling in art here and there mostly by painting the backs of the shoe boxes discarded by clients from work.
A friend commissioned me to do a painting for her parents whilst I was in Acting school and a few years later while I was living in Sydney, those same parents bought a holiday home where they hoped to decorate the walls with my art. I knew they loved colour and I knew I was overdue to properly reconnect with my creativity so I purchased a canvas, grabbed a pencil and let my mind wander.
I experimented prolifically with creative styles during my youth and developed my own colourful abstract style long ago in my late teens.
I have a vivid memory from Art school during one Critique session where I was presenting a painting in this style to the cohort for feedback and a peer said with her eyes transfixed on the creation: “I love it. I have never seen anything like it.” Perhaps it’s a reflection of my sensitivity and youth at the time but I remember these Critique sessions being quite brutal and her genuine approval made me feel that I was onto something. Her response obviously stuck with me and influenced me years later when faced with a blank canvas to paint something in that style.
A painting from yesteryear, completed in perhaps 2006 while I was in Art School.
Sold years ago and in a private collection.
‘ Woman with flowers’ is a celebration of colour, line and imagination and is somewhere between surrealism and abstraction. I find creating work from a stream of consciousness approach incredibly satisfying - artist aside, as a viewer I still enjoy experiencing this piece and I think it’s because each line and each colour was created from tapping into a flow state and welcoming the subconscious to create the work. In my mind I think that’s why it flows so well and why the shapes and colours of this abstract interpretation of form are so dynamic and invigorating.
Also if you’re wondering, in the end I was commissioned by the parents to create something more specific and personal for their holiday home and through that experience I realised I wanted to brush up on my oil painting skills and accurate colour mixing (which lead to the portraiture work I’ve been dabbling in the last couple of years and in turn has lead to me combining realism and this colourful abstract style in pieces like ‘The Artist Prefers Colour’). As of the time of this writing this painting is still available and hasn’t been exhibited yet.
ABOVE: The painting in different stages of development.
Pictured far left is the canvas with faint outlines of the pencil drawing that was improvised straight onto canvas. Next the pencil outline was solidified in blue acrylic. The colours of the piece were decided one after the other and were influenced by stain glass where in this case each ‘shape’ was treated as though it were its own glass pane of colour.
