If we only conversed in imagery, it would slow our pace – therapy, yes?

Painting

the mechanics of making large-scale artwork then transporting back to Oz is not very economical so small-scale work is now the go. Finding surfaces that excite the sense of exploration include planks of wood washed up on the beach to fine grade Washi paper and of course, the A3 sketchbook.

“Pink House in the rain”
Detail

The Crane

THERE, just nearby as I walk along the paddy road, the elegant neck with slim body of white, pure white in a muddy world, and long legs of this water bird, a wonderful, beautiful curved crane pokes for a frog or tasty insect. It’s simple beauty makes me stop and stare in awe, in respect. It is a distance away yet as soon as I stop, it unfolds its wings and gently flaps, not in any panic, but serenely lifts up and into the air, effortlessly, displaying its marvelous mechanics in a slowly circling lift away to some where distant. I am reminded: “The crane always flies away”.

And so it is with many things we love, people, possessions, memories, the deeper the feelings, the easier they seem to fly away no matter what tender lines we attempt to bind them with.

I opened my window this morning to the dawning light, it overlooks the sea-board canal and as I looked at the waters flowing back into the bay, a white flash caught my eye and as I turned to observe the crane which had been feeding in the stream, that wondrous creature lifted its wings, those majestic arms, then spiralled away leaving the brown-grey of the water and canal. The bird’s clean ever so clean-white left a dissapearing streak across this dull colour and with it, a little sadness as I remembered that the crane always flies away.

Kanji à la Mondrian

Viewing Kanji characters for the first time, the ones that caught my eye were ones with simle patterns forming verticals and horizontal strokes. A few of these I chose to form the structures of the stylized image which represented the meaning and added context with colour or image to illustrate the Kanji character.

Side Project, not so project as a constant companion

the root end of a broken bamboo trunk caught my eye on the beach on Day 1 and has now been my warm-up “painting”, adding a little texture each day. A perfect height for a walking stick. 

“Flood not a tsunami”