So...my thoughts and daily activities are pretty occupied around getting all this done.
What is interesting is that my dreams have increased in weirdness by about 300%. Which gets me thinking...maybe I should be a Surrealist after all and just paint images straight from my dreams! But they would probably be too disturbingly bizarre for anyone to relate to.
In other news, I recently finished my first painting series of the year!! They are currently on show in the "Natures Best" exhibition at Artists Den and Art Gallery in Takapuna. I wanted to explore the idea of painting oceans/waves in churches, basically to see how I could combine two visually. Also to investigate how the meaning of what church actually is could be wrestled with. I'm reasonably happy with them, technically they turned out pretty good.
Even better was that they kind of failed as a series for me, in that I didn't learn anything from them. In fact nearing the end of painting them I got angry and bored and would've moved on if I hadn't had a show to put them in! The reason for this is that I hadn't changed anything in regard to how I was approaching the process of making the painting. I was painting a slightly more challenging subject but neglected to reconsider how I could have arrived there more effectively.
Since then I've been mega inspired and basically am opening the doors wide for experimenting with new ways to make a painting. I'm really excited about this next stage now (excluding all the previously mentioned proposal deadlines) and have no idea really what my next paintings will look like, so watch this space! I feel really grateful to have arrived at this conclusion now at the start of the Masters- otherwise it would've come up when I was halfway through and completely crippled my practice somehow.
So yes, this is my honest opinion of my latest work- they are great paintings if you're a viewer, and I like the ideas and visual impact, but they didn't do a lot for me as a painter.
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| "We are the body" Oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm |
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| "We are the living stones" Oil on canvas, 60 x 50cm |
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| "We are the salt" Oil on canvas, 46 x 60cm |
Also, seeing as I've been reading and researching A LOT over the last few weeks, I thought I'd post some pics from my artist crushes at the moment. I have at least a dozen that I'm interested in pursuing further, but here are just a couple.
These works are by David LaChapelle, a photographer who has enjoyed success in commercial photography, and more recently in fine art photography. I love how he sets up his scenes and uses a collage approach to combine random things. These are from his series "Jesus is my Homeboy" in 2003
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| Sermon |
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| Five Loaves and Two Fish |
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| Anointing |
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| The Last Supper |
I have to include a painter too, seeing as I am one. These works are by Gil Heitor Cortesao (Portugese). I looove the way he paints interiors- he inspires me to be less uptight and more painterly. The first two painting titles translate to "Behind the Volcano" in English, and the last 3 are Untitled. He paints oil on plexiglass and layers glass/paints on both sides etc. Would love to see these in real life!!
