MURRAY DARLING CURRENCY

                                         Murray Darling Currency Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

Regular readers will know of my interest in water; its cost, allocation, various uses, infrastructure, entitlements, and so on. Water is a very significant issue in Australia, as it is all over the world. Each locale has its own particular issues, but the overarching ones are about sustainability and equitable access, not only for us now, but also for future generations.

I recently made an online 'gallery' of some of my water paintings. Here's the link http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/water-gallery.html

The new painting above is one that has been perculating in my thoughts for some time. As many readers will know, the Murray Darling Basin and its water, having attracted major debate and argument over the years, are currently under another review. This is generating even more heated debate between the various players, including farmers, government departments, basin townships. The debate also obviously touches the wider community through the environmental, economic, social and business ramifiactions of any review that sees water allocations for agricultural use restricted. Here's a link to the Murray Darling Basin Authority website http://www.mdba.gov.au/

But, to the word 'currency' which I have previously discussed in an earlier post; http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/06/currency-of-water.html  I have called this new painting 'Murray Darling Currency' to suggest not only the currency/flow of water, but also the currency/flow of money which is generated by the economic outcomes of this vastly rich resource. As well, there is the idea that this issue is current, thus 'currency' is also about notions of contemporaneousness with other allied and non-allied issues of national and global importance. The word 'currency' also alludes the Murray Darling's power to generate political currency.

Now to the painting...the dark blue area in Australia's bottom right is the demarkation of the Murray Darling Basin. I have painted it with blue $ signs, which from a distance are not clearly discernible, but are obvious when observed up close. Regular readers will recognise that this play with close and far distance/perspective asks questions about how much do we notice, and ultimately care about and value. Australia and its surrounding oceans are painted with my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life, to indicate that life is interconnected and that perhaps notions of value include, but are far more than $ value.

The painting below 'GAB: Great Artesian Basin', is another recent painting which is similar to 'Murray Darling Currency'. Here's the link to the post I wrote with some thought about this 'GAB: Great Artesian Basin':
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/08/airspace-and-phantoms.html

                                         GAB: Great Artesian Basin Gouache on paper 30 42 cm

I am reading a book called 'Water: The Epic Struggle For Wealth, Power, and Civilization' by Steven Solomon [Harper Collins, NY, 2010]. I have not yet finished...indeed not even half way through. It is fascinating. I knew as soon as I started reading this book, that its incisive message was going to be that we need to take water seriously...very seriously. I quote from the prologue, 'The lesson of history is that in the tumultuous adjustment that surely lies ahead, those societies that find the most innovative responses to the crisis are most likely to come out as winners, while the others will fall behind. Civilization will be shaped as well by water's inextricable, deep interdependence with energy, food, and climate change.' [p.5]

Hopefully political currency will not blind powerbrokers to the extreme importance decisions about water will have, not only for us now, but also for future generations. Just like the human body, our panet Earth  is 70% water. However, only 2.5% of this water is fresh, and a small % of this is accessible. [Solomon p.9 & 12] As I have written before, water is so much more than just a substance which keeps us and Earth physically alive. It is also a primordial symbol of the continuation and flow of life over time eternal. It is a symbol of the subconscious, and as such, holds secrets we are yet to discover. Now that's some kind of currency!

Cheers,
Kathryn

RISK

I am currently working on a large painting which I'll be able to load up on the BLOG soon. This new painting causes an oscillation of perspective...and as regular readers of this BLOG know...I am fascinated by perspective and distance. But, until then I am going to introduce you to RISK!

RISK, above, is from my series looking at water and the various issues that surround this fundamental life giving and sustaining gift to the planet. My last post 'Airspace and Phantoms'  http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/08/airspace-and-phantoms.html showed you some of my recent works on paper that also look at issues of water ie: irrigation, entitlements, coal seam gas industry [CSG] and so on.

But, RISK, whilst still inspired by water issues, is a work where I wanted to question how risk is analysed. For instance, the Coal Seam Gas [CSG] industry promotes itself as a provider of  'cleaner' energy...reducing emissions etc. This declaration has been questioned, particularly when the entire CSG process is examined. Plus there is the fact that methane is a more dangerous contributor to warming than carbon dioxide. In the process of extracting gas, there are great concerns being voiced by farmers, scientists and environmentalists with regards to the potential degradation of prime and strategic farming lands, and the depletion of underground aquifers. In the gas extraction process underground water also comes to the surface. This water is a 'by-product' of the extraction process. It has to be stored as there are no immediate broad usages for the water due to its salt content. I recently wrote about this issue in a post called 'Salt' http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/salt.html  Soil salination is a major worry.

Open cut mines are also a great concern for farmers and environmentalists who are not convinced that prime agricultural land can be rehabilitated, after the lifespan of a mine, to re-instate the richness of soils. A mine's life maybe 20-30 years, whereas some of the farmland in Queensland, which is in jeopardy, could produce food for thousands of years. Farming in Australia has become increasingly ecologically driven. As a farmer's daughter I have witnessed the evolution of farming from often unsustainable practices to sustainable ones. Most farmers love their land, and if they have stock, they love them too! Most farmers are not anti-mining, but they are anti mining on prime and strategic farm land, plus mining without due consideration of water issues.

So, there are a few issues to be examined. A broad one is whether the so called 'cleaner' energy provided by CSG is worth potentially degrading the prime agricultural land which produces food for a growing global population. Is it killing the goose that laid the golden egg? Alternative fuel is a much more attractive idea than alternative food! In this day and age where food and culinary programs on tv, books etc seem to swamp us, I doubt that many people would enjoy the thought of eating alternative food, just so mining could strip the land for so called cleaner energy. 

Back to water...farmers are required, by law, to adhere to strict regulations with regards to pumping and using water. I've written about this many times before. Water infrastructure is complex and the legalities are not well known in the general population. However,  the mining industry does not fall under the strict regulations required by government water resources departments and legislation! So, whilst a farmer needs to comply with rules regarding pumping from rivers and aquifers, the CSG water 'by-product' does not. Farmers are worried that the water extracted during the CSG process will deplete water levels in the underground aquifers and destabilise pressure, thus restricting use by farmers for such things as drinking water for stock, some irrigation, and domestic use on remote properties/stations and municipal use in remote communities. The potential for across aquifer contamination and introduced contamination is a major concern. Please look the Basin Sustainability Aliance site http://www.basinsustainabilityalliance.org/ for predictions on how much water will be potentially extracted from underground aquifers. It is enormous.

RISK
So back to risk! It seems to me that risk is a highly nuanced consideration. If I want to jump out of a plane I need to take account of the risk to me, and the potential impact on my family and friends if I smash to the ground. However, the risk is not far reaching beyond the sadness of my family. The risk of degrading prime farmland goes way beyond the 'now' to future generations and their food supply. The risk of depleted or contaminated aquifers is not just about impacts on farmers and communities now, but also into the future...for all.

I am reminded of various things Lord Martin Rees, Royal Astonomer and Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics and Master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, wrote in his book 'Our Final Century' . I have previously written about this book and its influence on my work. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/04/idea-sketches.html

The book is essentially an examination of risk. On pages 7-8 he writes,

It may not be absurd hyperbole—indeed, it may not even be an overstatement—to assert that the most crucial location in space and time (apart from the big bang itself) could be here and now. I think the odds are no better than fifty-fifty that our present civilisation on Earth will survive to the end of the present century. Our choices and actions could ensure the perpetual future of life (not just on Earth, but perhaps far beyond it, too). Or in contrast, through malign intent, or through misadventure, twenty-first century technology could jeopardise life’s potential, foreclosing its human and posthuman future. What happens here on Earth, in this century, could conceivably make the difference between a near eternity filled with ever more complex and subtle forms of life and one filled with nothing but base matter.
Martin Rees, Our Final Hour: A Scientist’s Warning: How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind’s Future in This Century—On Earth and Beyond (New York: Basic Books, 2003) p.7-8

RISK, gouache on paper ,30 x 42 cm is painted with little $ signs to question 'value'. The underground water, the river depression and the rain falling from the sky are all $ signs. The word RISK is also painted with $ signs. These are red to make an almost SOS or DANGER statement.

Currency, [playing with all ideas of currency] and value are not the same...especially when one thinks of the future...ha!..currency can really only mean NOW. 'Currency' is a play on the idea of money, flow and being current ie: contemporaneousness. If you read Martin Rees's quote, consideration of the future is vastly important.

A scientific risk analysis is very different to one business would consider. Would business ever consider a .05% risk too much? NO. But, in certain circumstances, science would. My impression is that the rush to extract gas and increasingly larger amounts of coal [and other resources] has more to do with business risk than a scientifically based one. My impression is that governments and other players are even applying a business type risk % parametre when considering environmental, health and sustainable food production impacts. However, surely these should be scrutinised with a stringent scientific analysis?

Added 28-1-12
This painting sold just beofre Christmas.
Cheers,
Kathryn

Full Moon Dream Board: Up and At 'EM

The semester is in full mid-term swing and I'm busy making travel preparations for our spring break excursion this weekend! A foggy evening in the midst of total madness--perfect for stealing a moment to whip up a dream board and make a Full Moon wish!

This cycle I am asking the Universe for The Juice: the up-and-at-'em serum! To spring out of bed rested, and ready to make the devil shake and say, "S**t! She's awake!" I am asking to become a Great Slayer of To Do Lists. I'm asking for the TIME and resources to pour into the projects that need my attention. In these next few weeks, I want not only to go with the flow, but be in Love with the flow-- waltz cheek to cheek with the flow-- and make the whole breezy affair look easy. ;) Shall we dance?

***Merry Full Moon, Friends!***

Until next time--

Much Joy, Many Blissings.~*

Goddess Portrait: Curve Wave Stream Glide

Once my turkey hangover subsided, I stepped into the studio to continue working on my "She Portrait" series. I was glad to work on this commission today. I'm still feeling a bit "static-y" but as I smoothed out pastel with my fingers, I did my best to enjoy a tall glass of cold water think about flow:

ebb, undulate, Curve, Wave, Stream, glide

Don't worry. You'll get it all done. You always do.

I'm finding a lot of joy in making these works as they are so different from my usual process. Normally, my works are tight and graphic or large scale preplanned projects in either oil or charcoal. These are "everything-but-the-kitchen-sink" sort of pieces: acrylic, oil, marker, pastel, oil pastel, found papers, candy wrappers, gesso and chopped up valentines. Layer on top of layer on top of layer. It's also a treat to make them as it was a rare opportunity--I've never had a client say "just go with it" and mean it! (Often I'll have clients who SAY go with it...but seem tentative or surprised with the result.)

I hope she enjoys living with them as much as I did in making them. I'm off to my work bench--there is much more matte medium in my future. One She Portrait to go!