THE HIDDEN SEEN IN MY MIND'S EYE

The Hidden Seen In My Mind's Eye Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm

I am currently working on a new painting. So, I have decided to upload an older work The Hidden Seen In My Mind's Eye because I have not previously written specifically about it, except a little in a post about horizons http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/horizons.html.

I have this painting hanging in my house and as I previously wrote, I am very fond of it. Regular readers will know that I grew up on a treeless black soil plain outside Dalby on the Darling Downs, Qld, Australia. Yes, the flat horizon in this painting is the one that tantalised us as we gazed west.  In the east the Bunya Moutain Ranges cut a majestic silhouette against relentless blue skies. Down on the plain the vast, yet strangely intimate, distance embraced us.

The title The Hidden Seen In My Mind's Eye came to me as I was painting this work. I painted it with memory as my source, but my imagination pulled other things from within. As a child I wondered a lot about big questions, such as why are we here, how far does space go, what happens when we die...and so on. I am sure many of you, as children, also wondered about the same things. Sometimes, I wish I could wonder so innocently again! This wish is embodied in this painting...that's why I called it The Hidden Seen In My Mind's Eye. The viewer is witnessing the distance that provoked me, as a child, not only to wonder at large, but to go within.

Our eye, of eye ball and pupil, feeds us information. Except this information is determined by the quality of our eyesight, how efficiently our visual cortex recieves information, how effectively we notice things, what interests us and so on. However, our mind's eye,  can 'see' in a different way. It is witness to the images and happenings in our imagination. Indeed, it is also witness to our dreams. Imagined elements and dreams create memories just as 'real life' creates memories. Fascinating!

But, just as we may not notice things in 'real life' with our eye of eye ball and pupil, we may not notice things in our imagination and dreams as well. I have met people who dismiss dreams and daydreams, but psychology tells us that both reveal the impulses of our subconscious. I figure, that's probably worth noticing!

But, now to a bigger question...what if, as a human race, we are not noticing? What if THE mind of humankind is not engaging in wonder, not sharpening its imagination, not broadeneing its interest, not reaching to places unknown? I refer you to my last BLOG post 'MeetingPlace Of The Mind'  http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/06/meeting-place-of-mind.html Surely the questions we ask... and the questions we don't even know to ask [yet]... are out there! Surely if we ask these questions, answers will reveal themselves...and wondrously there will be more questions.

Regular readers will know that I like to entice the viewer to look at my work up close and from a distance. In order to stimulate this 'dance' back and forth I create images which reveal intimate signs/details up close, but fall together into a BIG picture when viewed from a distance. I am deliberately asking the queston , 'Have you noticed?' I am particularly interested in this with my 'quiet activist' paintings revolving around water, and coal seam gas.
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/05/gas-gallery.html
http://www.visualartist.info/visualartist/artist/subpage.asp?ex=gallery&I=1690&sub=4325&artistId=1292&PageId=1690

But this queston., 'Have you noticed?' is an important one....across the board, the world, the universe, the multiverse...within. A friend of mine from Germany sent me this poem and, upon reading it,  I knew I wanted to offer it to you, for reflection.

In order to Change Something

The range of what we see and do
Is limited by what we fail to notice.
And because we fail to notice
That we fail to notice,
There is little we can do
To change
Until we notice
How failing to notice
Shapes our thoughts and deeds.
By R.D.Laing
In a Foreword by Stephen Covey for Alex Pattakos, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, Viktor Frankl’s Principals at Work. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2004.

When I Was A Child I Dreamt I Could Fly Oil on line 80 x 120 cm

So, to end this post I have uploaded another older painting called When I Was A Child I Dreamt I Could Fly. I have written a little about it on this older post...link  http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2006/09/school-holidays.htmlYes, I did dream I could fly! Except it was more like a dream during the day! Without ever having been in an plane above my parent's farm I knew what it looked like from above. I think this is where my interest in mult-prespectives comes from! However, that's another subject. For this post's topic, this painting, like The Hidden Seen In My Mind's Eye is about the memories produced by and held in imagination. I can still remember the feeling of 'flying'...but alas I cannot 'fly' with such a physical essence as I did as a child [except in a real aeroplane!]. Thank goodness I have the memory, because the memory is a teacher. It has taught me to know that imagination can achieve great feats!

NEWS

BOOK
I have a book being published this year. Keep an eye out for updates! It is a book of paintings and poetic prose. I am self publishing it with Balboa Press, the self publishing arm of Hay House. http://www.balboapress.com/

EXHIBITION
Paradise will open on Friday 9 September at Purgatory Artspace, First Floor, 170 Abbotsford St, North Melbourne. Exhbition dates 8 Sept - 8 Oct.

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com
Follow me on TWITTER http://twitter.com/brimblecombe