QUIET FIERCENESS OF LIGHT

Quiet Fierceness of Light Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

This new painting Quiet Fierceness of Light was inspired by a recent work on paper Firmament which is below. Yet, as I painted Quiet Fierceness of Light other things happened. It posed a number of impasses for me, as it challenged me with questions, articulated through dilemmas of aesthetics and conversations with myself. I wanted to create a feeling of a calling, the kind that whispers to us when we least expect it. The kind of calling that moves us past what we know to places where the unknown provokes us to wonder...and discover new knowledge about ourselves and the world.

Regular readers will know that light features in a number of my paintings [I have provided links below]. I love the frisson which quivers in the connections that link the scientist's wonder of light with the philospher's and spiritualist's. The frisson is highly charged!

In Quiet Fierceness of Light a figure of a woman reaches across the canvas, as if she is straddling the depths of time. A flame of light provides a force which seems to propel her. But she garners this light in the spaces between the branches of the trees which errupt from her arms and legs. These trees, regular readers will know, are my interpretation of the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol. They have various possible meanings. They can be 'read' as roots issuing forth from her feet and branches from her hands, or representations of life systems such as the vascular and lymphatic, or cross sections of internal organs such as the brain or kidney. Yet, we can go further and see them as representative of any kind of life giving system such as above and below ground water systems. For me, in this painting, they both emit and garner energy connecting all life across all dimensions.

The background of the entire painting is formed by one tree which cascades across the canvas. Like ripples it suggests another layer of life's propulsion. It seems to embrace all direction, all space and beyond, possibly indicating the primordial template/system of life in the multiverse.

The red circle, with the light emanating from it, may be the sun, the source of literal light broadcasting across our daytime. Yet, light as a metaphor struggles to penetrate our psyches when the darkness of sameness erodes confidence amd strangles wonder. The light in Quiet Fierceness of Light is more about the light of knowledge...of ourselves, others and the universe. It is with and through knowledge that we shed light across the pathways of life. The light imbues us with wonder as it calls forth both beckoning and shining the way. Light that beckons is where we find challenge, drawing us towards it. If we are game we meet its glow.
There is more to Quiet Fierceness of Light, but I'll leave that to you, the viewer. I leave you to travel your own journey with light!

Firmament Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

LIGHT

Sending Love
Halo
Finding
Becoming The Light
Colour Of Knowledge

WHAT I AM READING

I am currently reading Fire In The Belly: On Being a Man by Sam Keen. It was published in 1991/92 so is twenty years old. It is a fascinating insight into men! I have read the first four chapters where Keen analyses the role of WOMAN in the male psyche. He writes WOMAN in capital letters to differentiate the Goddess/Mother Nature entity from the woman of flesh and blood. He investigates how men need to find distance in order to embrace and love. I am really looking forward to reading the entire book. Keen writes beautifully eg: When writing about WOMAN- 'She has been an inevitable symbol of divinity since the beginning of time and remains a sacred presence in the timeless dimension of every psyche.' How about that for creating pictures with words and transporting the reader to places beyond!

Fire In The Belly: On Being a Man A Bantam Book USA 1991 

WHAT I HAVE JUST READ

I have just finished A Hatful Of Cherries by Felix Calvino. This is a wonderful collection of short stories, written by Calvino, who was born in Spain, but now lives here in Brisbane! Each story drew me in and I felt a connection to the characters. I felt so sad for Basilio and his wife. Really loved the ‘Ghosts on The Beach’ too. ‘Silvia’ was such a measured story, belying the strangeness of the two men sharing a mistress.The story about quitting smoking was painful to read, but gripping. I felt his frustration...and I have never smoked! The ‘Detour’ story has a film in it I am sure! Calvino's endings are really great, because he makes them astonishing, even when they are about ordinary happenings.

I also liked the way Calvino moved from stories set in Spain, to those set in Australia. It provided a rhythm that was punctuated every now and then...like jazz! I could not read more than two stories at one time, because I liked how they stayed with me for awhile.

One of the short stories Unfinished Thoughts has been made into a short movie, which has won and been nominated for a number of awards. Click HERE for more information.

I highy receommend A Hatful Of Cherries
A Hatful Of Cherries Arcadia Australia 2007

SOME INTERESTING SITES I'VE FOUND

I recommend  Everybody Means Something: Words, Values and Identities Explored  This is a BLOG with some very thoughtful posts.

Charter For Compassion  I have been a member of this site for some time. It was inspired by Karen Armstrong, who is a 'provocative, original thinker of the role of religion in the modern world' . Check out her TED site. I've read her book The Spiral Staircase. It is just one of her many books.

I read this provocatively titled article recently, Infinite Stupidity It is a talk with Mark Pagel who is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Professor of Evolutionary Biology. He is Head of the Evolution Laboratory at the University of Reading.

Did you know there is a Global Peace Index ? I met Steve Killelea, the man who founded the organisatin Vision For Humanity a few years ago, at a conference at the Univeristy of Queensland. At the time the idea for a Peace Index was new. But, Steve Killelea is a very passionate man and within a year of the UQ conference the Peace Index was up and running.

I also discovered recently that there is a Corruption Index!

Other interesting sites are listed in the LINKS tab on the right column of this BLOG!

'FOR EVERYONE: WORDS AND PAINTINGS'

My BOOK!

Please click HERE for more information

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

 

QUIVER

Mother Nature Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

My exhibition PARADISE at Purgatory Artspace in Melbourne finished last Saturday. Great feedback from the gallery and visitors. I am very happy and am planning another exhibition for early 2013.

I will admit to being somewhat exhausted though. Having an exhibition is both physically and emotionally draining, not only leading up to the event, but also while it is on.
However, after a number of failed attempts to paint...yes lots of tearing up paper and over painting...I feel I'm now back in a creative flow. I've been painting with gouache on paper, plus I have prepared three canvases, which are sitting in my sudio [aka garage] willing me to spill out the images in my head.

INSPIRATION
Let's just say that whilst it is frustrating when the creative flow seems impeded, the ripping up and over painting become a kind of 'play'...and that's a good thing. I let it happen. Out of this 'play' some ideas started to gel in my mind and flowed onto the paper.

I've been wanting to explore more ideas of beauty. As regular readers know I have written about beauty before. For me, beauty is a reminder of what we lose if we do not nurture our planet and all its living creatures, including us. Beauty is not ignorant or simple, as its underlying pathos is an understanding of the existence of ugliness, which it consciously elides. The conscious elision is the element which differentiates beauty from mere prettiness. However, I think that many confuse prettiness with beauty, and in doing so skim across the surface of potential. The cult of celebrity, the fickleness of fashion and the vacuuous drama of reality shows seem to me to perpetuate the slippery slopes of superficiality, resulting in a tourist-like experience of life, rather than an absorption in life.

Beauty has a capacity to touch our hearts deep inside us, triggering resonances that quiver with the past and the future, reminding us at a core, or DNA, level of life's purpose. In these new works on paper I found myself taken to places within and compelled to explore the quiver, the resonance.

Quiver Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

The body of a woman is present in these four new works. She is the conduit of life, the essence of life revelling in life. She is not a separate entity placed outside the 'scape'. She, is absorbed into the patterns of life, she is part of the pattern, the rhythm. I use the word 'scape' to encompass all environments from those bound to Earth, to those deep within the human psyche, to those in the outer reaches of the cosmos, as well as those that 'speak' of history, past, present and future.

                                    Threshold of Time Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

Regular readers will identify my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life motif. The tree just keeps inspiring me! In these paintings it seems indivisible from the female figures as it erupts from their limbs and hearts, connecting to the distance beyond and within.

Firmament Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

Here are some links to previous posts where I write about beauty:

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/03/beauty.html [I write about beauty at the end of the blog post]

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/03/beauty-as-portal.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/kabrimblecombe?feature=mhee#p/a/u/1/8J_zL8ALnJo This is a short segment from a recent 1 1/2 hour presentation I gave for the C.J Jung Soc of Queensland. In this segment I talk about beauty.

GOOD NEWS!

My entry for the BLAKE PRIZE http://www.blakeprize.com.au/ whilst not getting into the finalists was apparently in the group considered for the finals. AND, from that group the directors select works for what's called the DIRECTORS' CUT EXHIBITION. And, my entry COMPASSION is in it! http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/compassion.html

This link will take you to where you can see the list of selected artists. http://www.blakeprize.com.au/news/2011-directors-cut-artists-announced

The DIRECTORS' CUT is an online exhibition and the images are live from 26 October - 23 January. I'll keep you informed!

WEBSITE

Please check out my website www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com where I have online 'galleries'. Details such as prices etc can be found there.

Cheers,

Kathryn

Droplet Duo

Each moment in time we have it all, even when we think we don't.

~ Melody Beattie

Brown Thrasher on a Branch

But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day. ~Benjamin Disraeli

It seems there is not enough time in the day to do all of the things I want to do. Most importantly right now is getting Mom and Dad settled - still lots of little things to do. But soon I hope to get out with the camera and soon I hope to visit more of your blogs. Thank you all for your kindness and for your comments.

Butterfly - The Departure

Not to understand a treasure's worth till time has stole away the slighted good, is cause of half the poverty we feel, and makes the world the wilderness it is. ~William Cowper

From the archives - 09-13-09 - Heritage Trail, Blacksburg, VA

UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE

Other Universes Gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm

At my artist's talk in discussion with Dr. Christine Dauber on March 26 she asked me a question about landscape. She basically asked if I identified myself as a landscape painter. This is an interesting one for me, because for many years I would have described myself as such. However, whilst I still paint what could be called landscapes, I don't think the term 'landscape painter', or describing my painting as 'landscape', is fulsome enough. I've pondered this for some time now, even prior to Dr. Dauber bringing the topic to the fore. When I answered her question I basically said 'yes and no'! I ventured to suggest that whilst my feet are planted on the ground my head is actually in the clouds, so I 'see' the external and internal world in and from multiple perspectives.

I have said 'external' and 'internal' because the way I 'see' is both an outward observation with my eye, of eye ball and pupil, as well as an inward one with my mind's 'eye'. The latter is, I suppose, what I 'see' in and with my imagination. Both observations involve another level, which is my emotional response which can quicken or ignite excitement, further wonder, intellectual stimulation, revelation.

Someone, and I cannot remember who, described my paintings as 'spiritual landscapes'. This is probably getting close to the mark, but I still have a niggling problem with the word landscape and what it means to most people ie: an image of or inspired by the literal physical landscape of our external environment. I have had a thought...maybe this meaning of landscape tethers us to a line of sight perspective, with its contingent uni dimensionality, that ultimately blinds us to other dimensions. Are we, in fact, attached to a diminished idea of landscape which affects how we view our world and beyond? If we are, its not a helpful way of 'seeing' as we live locally in an increasingly globalised world.

Recent natural disasters remind us that our landscape can change dramatically and dreadfully, not just cyclically with seasons etc. Change is inherent within the external landscape and tethering ourselves to a vision of constancy in one dimension, I propose, makes it much harder to cope with catastrophe, as well as blinding us to new ways of 'seeing'. The latter probably impacts on how we live in and treat our environment.

The Beginning Of Everything Oil On Linen 90 x 180 cm

If everything in this universe is the result of a BIG BANG, then everything is the BIG BANG'S dust. If everything [and this includes us!] is dust from a common source, then everything is 'landscape'. I ponder upon this and think about how I am inspired...not just what inspires me. Once something triggers my imagination I see inside myself. I actually feel my eyes 'glass' over as I almost plummet to immeasurable internal depths. It often feels much more vast than the external world. In a way, by traversing my internal world I find  pathways to alternative outside worlds. The landscape is within and without.

Cosmic Dust Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

If everything is the dust from the BIG BANG then there must be a common fundamental code imbedded within everything. Now that's exciting. I can already 'see' that this code is the foundation of and for landscape...a landscape that is not about time or place, but of existence. This code is both here and now, which is in the past and the future. Maybe our imagination has the capacity to stir this common fundamental code agitating it to reveal itself?

However, if we are tethered to a uni dimensional notion of landscape then it means we [probably mainly westerners!] have trained our brains, over time, to view the world this way. I am reminded of Dr. Norman Doidge's fabulous book, 'The Brain That Changes Itself' and his talk at this year's Qld Writers' Festival. Encultured ways of 'seeing' create maps in our brains, but we can change these maps if, as time goes on, we find that previous ways of 'seeing' are not helpful. I am suggesting it is time to change! This is where art's agency lies. Art can help trigger the impetus to create new maps in our brains...maps that link more with imagination or our 'mind's eye' rather than just our eye of eye ball and pupil. I have previously written about Norman Doidge's book and art:
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/love.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/02/becoming.html

As I explore the potential and potency of the transcultural/religious tree-of-life weaving into my paintings, I wonder if the tree holds the clue to the code imbedded within everything? After all, it can represent systems of all kinds. Its branches and its roots link matter and air, heaven and earth. It symbolises life across religions and cultures through stories and myth. It breaths for us and the planet, and it is in a constant state of change. I wonder.


Cheers,
Kathryn
http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/

COSMIC FRISSON

                                         Cosmic Frisson oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

This is the painting I was working on when I wrote my recent BLOG post 'Ripples' http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/ripples.html  Yes, it is finished!

I wrote in 'Ripples' that I wanted to create a painting which seemed to ripple, at one instance appearing to reveal something and at the next swathing it under swift and repetitive movements. This  painting could be a landscape of the Earth in the cosmos, her outer protective atmosphere meeting the sun blessed sky space, creating a frisson between multiple dimensions. Yet, the cluster of rounded shapes could be a cluster of space presences, from planets to particles of dust, saluting a sun star many light years from ours.

I have used my tree-of -life/knowledge motif to create the planetary shape, but beneath the rippling-like branches, glimpses of other forces can be seen. These same forces are glimpsed through the sun's felt presence within the sky space. The cosmos teases and tantalises us with its secrets, by revealing its inner essence languidly.

Without the teasing and tantalising would we question? Would we be curious? The search and acquisition of knowledge survives and thrives on the stimulation and seduction of glimpsed secrets.

I have used the tree-of-life/knowledge to suggest that 'life' lies beyond our planetry existence. It may not be life like we know it, but as the Universe continues to expand, its propulsion is the potential. I am so glad the Universe and the sub-atomic, and the simultaneously expanding and decreasing space and distance between them, are complex. Complexity means there are forces, whilst we may not understand or be aware of them, that keep life's processes operating. My faith lies in the complexity that holds the questions we have not thought to ask and the answers we don't even know exist yet. Now that's frisson!

Regular readers would know that my solo exhibition in March here in brisbane was called Frisson. Here is a link to a previous post http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/feeling-frisson.html

Until next time,
Kathryn

INFINITUDE

Infinitude Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2010

I've been working on some works on paper over the last 10-12 days. A number of them have been torn up in frustration. But I know this will happen, because after every exhibition, when a new body of work is trying to express, I fumble and stress about what I am doing. This is a phase...as my Mother used to say whenever either of my 2 brothers or I were behaving in a certain way, she'd say, 'It's just a phase'. So, whilst I might tear up work in frustration I know the phase will pass and some kind of fluidity of thought and action will appear...and then next phase happens.

Well, I have to say, I am feeling the fluidity...because I am rather pleased with 'Infinitude', which is above. It is the result of a number of torn up works, and about 7-100! different layers of oodles of paint and water. Once I was happy with the background I started the detailed surface work. Well....there were times when I walked away and would only return when I felt the urge to tear subside, because I felt 'in-my-bones' that this one was doing something that made my heart sing! The struggle and suffering are worth it...

That sounds a bit dramatic...struggle and suffering. But, creating a painting is a dance between the struggle and the heart singing! It is what gives a sense of something which is just not seen but felt [I mentioned this in my last post too].

So...what was I thinking about when I painted 'Infinitude'? A multitude of things actually. This is part of the struggle. After an exhibition [like FRISSON which I have just held] there's an urge to develop ideas that continue previous work, but new ideas also emerge. The new ideas are most likely connected with the previous body of work, but diverge. The result is that the imagination is overindulged with ideas! Not a problem really! But, it does take some time to work through. So...back to what was I thinking about when I painted 'Infinitude'? One of the main things I was thinking about was 'freedom'..now that opens up a universe of issues!

I wanted to create an image that oozed boundless space and possibility to give the impression of borderlessness and never endedness...like flying through timelessness. I wanted to create an image that appeared to have no beginning or end, as if perspective had been replaced with a sense of simultaneous closeness and farness. Maybe like a simultaneous beginning and end, and thus the possibility of something new...maybe a new dimension? I wonder what would we and the world do if there was a new 'beginning', but one where we retained the knowledge experienced across millenia in this dimension. Would we be more compassionate towards ourselves and others?

So, now that I am back in the studio I am indulging in ,and struggling with, lots of ideas! As readers can probably tell, perspective and distance will still keep me occupied for some time. I have also got new ideas for my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life. AND, maybe some more figures in my paintings too.

Till next time,

Cheers,

Kathryn

DISTANCE-LESS-NESS

Detail of as yet untitled painting I am currently working on.

Detail of as yet untitled painting I am currently working on.

The two images above are close-up details of the painting I am currently working on. This painting is a further investigation of my ideas which I explored in 'In the Garden of Eden' which was the subject of my BLOG post of August 5 . http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/08/garden-of-eden.html Again the tree-of-life and the tree-of-knowledge are pivotal motifs, but like 'In the Garden Of Eden' I have included Adam and Eve ,who for me, simply represent humankind. The crossing over of the two trees creates and reclaims the feminine symbol of the sacred Yoni which meaningfully implies the feminine within all.

In the new painting I have painted Adam asleep. In the bible story he was put into a sleep state to allow for the extraction of his rib to form Eve. Following is a quote from my August 5 BLOG post...."She was not made out of his head to surpass him, nor from his feet to be trampled on, but from his side to be equal to him, and near his heart to be dear to him." [Jamieson-Fausset Brown Bible Commentary] Eve eternally shares a part of Adam just as Adam also experiences the feminine. The absent part of his rib represents Eve's presence within. Absentia does not mean lack of inclusion. With these thoughts in mind culpability for the Temptation ascribed soley to Eve seems rather lame or perhaps opportunistic.

It has been suggested that the Bible story actually does not record Adam ever waking up, thus posing a very interesting proposition. In fact, is life an illusion or a dream? Are we Adam's dream into which we are propelled in order to sort out the big questions posed by the battle between good and evil [error]? This proposition opens up a myriad of questions which go to the core of existence...and not just in this human dimension. This is the power of myth.

This brings me to a very interesting post on the Elightenment Next BLOG http://blog.enlightennext.org/?p=1723 The post includes an article called TRUE JIHAD by Elizabeth Debold. She suggests that the true jihad is, in fact, the battle of the ego with the spiritual potential within us all. I quote, 'The truer, greater meaning of jihad refers to the battle for the utter liberation of the spirit from the tyrannical nafs—the unconscious motivation in the human psyche that insists on separation and division. The nafs—or ego—is the ultimate terrorist, changing disguises with shape-shifting ease, scurrying within the labyrinth of the mind, setting off explosions of fear and rage, never quite visible until war has been declared and a warrant for its capture, dead or alive, has been issued.'

I have previously written on the BLOG about the role of myth. As time goes on I have an even great sense that misplacement of myth ,which I believe is largely a result of post modernism's slippery decline into narcissism and glorified pastiche, is a far greater loss than we may have realised. For me, myth is a conduit to the inner sanctums of the spiritual potential within us all. Myth will take people places that are undreamed or unimagined until they are awakened. And, upon awakening there is the potential for more discovery. Post modernism forces a sense of sitting outside with enticements to enter, but upon entry it slips away. This, of course is its arrogant subtefuge, because it knows that if discovered there is nothing there. Myth, on the other hand, beckons with its depth and confident potency. I have written about post modernism @ http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/11/after-implosion.html

Debold, in her article True Jihad admits to the role of post modernism when she says, 'In my postmodern arrogance, I assumed that the great traditions lacked the sophistication of our modern psychological understanding. But, increasingly, I am coming to understand that it is our contemporary view that lacks depth because, so often, it blunts the sharpness of distinctions that give dignity to the human struggle.'

I am particularly interested in Debold's arguments about ego. I won't go into a broad discussion about it, but I will make some comments with reference to art/artists and ego. Readers of my BLOG would know that I have previously written about ego with reference to my experiences exhibiting in the Middle East and the conversations I had with people who came to my exhibitions from all over the region, Africa and Eastern Europe. As a result of these conversations I realised I do not complete my paintings. They are, in fact, completed by every conversation they stimulate. These conversations can be internally with oneself or with others. Thus, my paintings have the potential to have multiple completions. When I realised this I had to consciously let go of my ego, because I recognised that a part of me wanted to hold onto the meaning of my work. Yet, when I thought about it, each person I had had a conversation with drew more from my work than I had initially ascribed. In fact, by holding on I was a limiting factor. By letting go, I feel free and I know my work is free to do whatever its potential is.

What struck me was that the tree-of-life motif was the element which drew people into conversation with me. This transcultural/religious motif needed no explanation, yet I had used it in non-traditional ways. The willingness of people to share their dreams, hopes, ideas and sometimes despair with me was very humbling. Yet, it was really the power of one motif which opened up the commuication. This motif is intrinsic to many stories from across religions and cultures. This motif has helped my understand the importance of myth.

So, for me myth is timeless and eternal. Through myth we can find rich pathways to the inner sactums of our spiritual potential. If this is the case, then time seems inconsequential. And, as I have written before, if time does not exist then neither does distance and space. Maybe myth is a way to distance-less-ness where axiomatically there are no limits to Myth's capacity.

Kathryn

PS: I should finish my new painting in the next week.

PPS: This painting has been preselected for the $15,000 Manning Art prize announced 19 Sept http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/05/angels-wings.html

A Moment

I am intensely interested in the idea that a frisson is a 'distance' which can be close and/or far and that the space between is replete with anticapatory energy. For instance the moment before a romantic kiss, when the distance between two people is physically close but not closed, is full of heightened anticipation and possibility. This brief moment ‘sees’ time and space dancing with each other causing a rich frisson where everything seems to stand still and the world seems distance-less.

This new painting above is called 'A Moment' and I wanted to give the impression that time and space dance intimately in a suspended frisson. I wanted to 'picture' a moment. I have used my much loved tree-of-life motif to represent past and future. I also deliberately used the circle to represent time as cyclical rather than linear. The circle also reminds us of the rungs of a cut tree. These rungs tell us how old a tree might have been, thus are indicators of earthly time passing.

Yet, time may not exist at all beyond this mortal existence. I am reminded of a few lines in a poem called 'Out There' written by my grandmother D.E Ross, [the entire poem is copied below my post]

Time is not negotiated
wasted or lost:
an hour rates high in our accounting here:
yet a thousand years
could be held as a breath on the wind
Out There.

If time does not exist except perhaps 'as a breath of wind', one then has to question the existence of distance and thus perspective, both being some kind of temporal and spatial measurement of perception. I wonder if both distance and perspective are necessary processes and/or processors we need to move towards a 'knowing' which goes beyond human perception. After all we must know who we are not before we can truly know who we really are. With reference to my last post 'In the Garden Of Eden' I am reminded that Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden to experience good and error [I prefer error to evil] in order to know who they are not so they can know who they are. The story is a parable to propel us in mind and soul beyond to 'Out There'.

The tree-of-life in 'A Moment' is like a gossamer creating a veil. This veil is time. Once the veil is lifted I can imagine distance, space and perspective collapsing into a non-existence which paradoxically remembers them. Thus they exist in absentia. In fact, my grandmother's poem in stanza two clearly irradicates boundaries created by compass points or positioning. My grandmother wrote this poem about death, but to my mind she wrote about a 'knowing' of another life...


Out There
By D. E Ross
[copyright]

1.
I do not cringe before the opening door
to Outside,
but brace muscle and mind
to meet
the open horizon
its fresher winds
the brighter light
undreamed of in the chrysalis:
each cloud a carriage
each breeze a wing
each star a stepping stone
beyond Time
-before and after-
toward the secret
of its source
and mine.

11.
There are no boundaries
Out There
but the original laws
that devised
creation.
neither north nor south
or east and west,
above
below
or here and there
No tides,
but streams of power forever flowing.
Time is not negotiated
wasted or lost:
an hour rates high in our accounting here:
yet a thousand years
could be held as a breath on the wind
Out There.

111.
There is no waste in God’s economy.
New solar systems
gather grace in space
[along with waste
from our allotted span of influence].
In God’s eternal meld
of warp and woof,
of foul and fair,
we have each one of us a share
in a new heaven and a new earth
aiming for birth
Out There
somewhere.


http://twitpic.com/photos/brimblecombe

NEW HISTORY

Shared Destinies Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

Detail of yet un-named oil on linen painting 90 x 200 cm

In today's Weekend Australian newspaper there is an article [page 4] ' Author Puts New Slant On Culture' by Rosemary Sorenson about a new book called The Lamb Enters The Dreaming by La Trobe University research fellow Robert Kenny. I will be very interested to read this book, because if it is as described in the article, it departs from the 'tired debate' surrounding the 'history wars' where strongly held 'right or left wing perspectives' breath almost inpenetratable distance into difference. University of Queensland Professor of Australian Studies and Cultural History, David Carter is quoted with a comment about the book which I found very exciting. After suggesting that if there can be acceptance of a notion that white and Aboriginal history is not all about 'exploitation' then this history is leading, "...towards a history of entwinement and entaglement."

'Entwinement and entaglement' surely mean something is shared. As I read these two words I thought of a particular painting I completed in 2006 called 'Shared Destinies'. When I painted this image I was thinking about how so many different cultures share history and thus also share destinies. If we share destinies there is an imperative to be compassionate towards each other, otherwise the journey together can be less than pleasant, as history amply illustrates. Readers of my BLOG will know that I have a couple of paintings with shared history-type titles.

The painting above called 'Shared Destinies' has two tree-of-life motifs which seem to to wrap each other. Their limbs and twigs extend beyond the painting to show a future and a past. They exist in a universe representing time which of course is also shared through concurrency. After all, time is not literally devisible and indeed may not really exist!

The second image is a detail of a just completed painting. I have written about this work on the BLOG before when I started it a couple, if not a few months ago. And now it is finally completed...or at least I have done my bit. Readers of this BLOG would know that I do not believe I actually complete my work. Each conversation, whether with oneself or with others, completes my work. Thus there is the potential for multiple completions.

I have yet to give this 90 x 200 cm painting a title. I know what I want to encapsulate, but have not come up with the right words yet. The reason I have only a detail is that my camera cannot take images of large work, so I now have to wait until it is dry before I can take it to a photographer.

But, getting back to the theme of this post...this latest painting is a continuation of my interest in embracing similarity rather than just difference. From a vast distance of space or time many differences are not noticeable often giving light to similarity if not sameness. A human body seen from a great distance is not discernible with regards to sex, colour, culture etc, yet the basic identifying body parts and shape we all share in common identify it as a human.

This new painting has a wave like appearance of colour. Whilst there are different colours there is a fluidity which I think portrays an 'entwinement and entaglement' suggesting a human-race shared history and future=destiny.

I believe compassion is a key to examining history with a different perspective. I will be interested to read Robert Kenny's book to see if a compassionate quality exists between and in his words. I believe, Kevin Rudd's Apology to the Australian Aborigines has opened the doors for compassion to be mutually given and felt. Sympathy, as I have said before on this BLOG, can emotionally colonise both the giver and the receiver giving rise to hierarchies which can become dangerously entrenched, thus stagnating life circumstances and history.

When I get the photo of the painting I will upload it to this BLOG.

And this TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert is brilliant...and absolute must. http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html