So at the end of February the schools closed here in Italy and we have more or less been in a strict lockdown since, over the last month I have been dipping and bobbing into the home studio which has been incredibly soothing, I have produced quite a few works.
The valley here is teeming with spring flowers and fruit blossom and so an assorted abundance to work from, everywhere just seems to be in super bright vision, the fields and grasses are so vibrantly green, the trees new foliage filled out at highspeed, am I living in timelapse video!
I have proud wild iris’s around the studio and so embarked on a new acrylic series on paper, still trying to get a sense of the landscape that surrounds me. Working on movement and flow, stillness yet fluidity, the play on light flickering through the leaves or the transparancy of the delicate petals, the form of the flowers are so embodying, the curves and containers, the fuzzy beards, hafts & falls, trying to capture the droops and crests, sweeping, dissolving nature. These flowers hold hope and the word iris originates from the greek for rainbow, which has been a true symbol throughout this world crisis.
I am still working in a layering process but the acrylic paints allows for swathes of colour to be loaded on the brush, the layers give a sense of changing moods or opportunities to vary the mark making, sometimes loose, tenuous, other times with deliberate gusto, freeing, spontaneous but also rooted in the natural shapes. the layering too is a way to break down the visual plane, seperate the elements, that are independent but then merge, conflict, soothe, ease, melt into togetherness. There is great energy in creating.
I was planning to exhibit in Italy over the summer but I realise that it may not be feasible as we still are very much living in unpredictable times, should the space be available, will anyone come to visit, costs will be involved and so selling works is something that I really need to do which may be unlikely as many will be spiralling into financial insecurity as we are. These times are hard for creatives especially when the only income comes through sales that stem from exhibiting, this is hard for everyone, we can but only see, plan and live in the present moment, day by day.
I am currently adding all of the new works to my website, also a few large rosemary and cherry blossom pieces again on paper. We are all in these times adapting, transforming, learning, unlearning, pausing, softening, contempating, fretting, I have loved watching new creative projects unfold online, seeing how cultural sites, museums, artists worldwide are reshaping their work, outlook and environment, connecting in alternative ways, collective easing expression, there is great hope, passion, inventiveness amidst the sadness.
“Our kinship with earth must be maintained: otherwise, we will find ourselves trapped in the centre of our own paved-over souls with no way out” Terry Tempest Williams
“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through ligtly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.” Arundhati Roy
“We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequality, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.” Sonya Renee Taylor
I too have pledged quite a number of works as part of the amazing movement ARTIST SUPPORT PLEDGE which has really thrown a lifeline to may artists worldwide who like myself have no income or financial support, the movement now has over 100,000 posts and has generated an estimated £20 million for artists and makers across the globe. Truly phenomenal, inclusive, all embracing, generous & heartfelt in its concept, I am hoping to sell through this too so we can keep the creatives going.
An aeded part of the movement too includes Framers, we have a small framing workshop in the studio set in the hills of Abruzzo, central Italy.
With nearly 30 years framing experience, bespoke, artisan highly crafted hand made frames, dealing with conservation, artists and museums worldwide, always sourcing sustainable materials, should you live in Abruzzo and need a framing service for a piece purchased alongside this movement please feel free to contact me.
#artistsupportpledgeframers
