Drifting

Art2Muse Gallery

Double Bay, Sydney

The work in this exhibition, Drifting, explores the notion of drifting into and beyond the everyday.

Breathe, Oil on Canvas, 101 x 213cm, $6500

Breeze, Oil on Canvas, 61 x 61cm, Sold

Drifting, Oil on Canvas, 55 x 55cm, Sold

Rising, Oil on Canvas, 101 x 101cm, Sold

Standing Still, Oil on Canvas, 101 x 213cm, Sold

Glow, Oil on Canvas, 61 x 61cm, $1800

Rising II, Oil on Canvas, 61 x 61cm, Sold

I paint the sky because it is a boundless space – a place of alterity that is ‘other’ – often beautiful, but not benign. The transience of light and form allows me to free-fall and to glide, to experience tumult, disorientation, peace, euphoria… The paradoxes of human experience and the world are mirrored in the apprehension of the sky’s immeasurability.

When I was a child I spent a great deal of time outside, on or near mountains and water. My Grandmother taught me to 'see' the natural world with the eyes of an artist. She showed me how to use my hands to make, to create things of beauty. I understood from her that to live my life fully, I would need to connect deeply with nature and respond to my impulse to create.

The natural world became a place of retreat for me - my place to be free, to commune, reflect and be re-energized. Now I constantly draw on nature’s processes to teach me truths about my life and the human condition. This is what motivates and inspires me to paint. Each of the works in this show is a response to an experience in the natural world that grounded me, but at the same time allowed me to soar.

I chose the title ‘Drifting’ for the exhibition because to drift is to be carried slowly by a current of air or water; walking unhurriedly, aimlessly; moving passively or involuntarily into a condition or situation. It is not to lose the ‘correct’ path, wandering in shapeless uncertainty, but rather to consciously choose a path of attentive reflection, a meditative and non-linear journeying. These ethereal landscapes explore transient moments, inviting you to drift into and beyond the everyday to glimpse a reality that is ‘beyond knowing’.