Creating and Caring - A Path Through Suffering

With another exhibition soon, I am writing to all my supporters, workshop participants, collectors and fellow artists both to invite you to come along and to share something personal with you.

You may know me well or perhaps we have only briefly connected or corresponded. Although you've had some news from me recently, regarding this and that; I have not really shared from my heart for a long time. Today I write again from that raw but real place. Not because I need a soapbox or want your sympathy. My hope is that my story, despite being a hard one to hear, will encourage you.

For all of us, the past 2+ years have been a time of devastation, confusion, uncertainty and pain. Yet for me, the consequences of the global pandemic, the bushfires and floods have served only as a backdrop to my personal anguish.

I have travelled a path that has unstitched me - thread by thread - until I struggled to know my own voice. Not only could I not write, but for so long, I could barely lift a brush to canvas. When I did, I felt crushing doubt, fear and shame. Shadows and upside-down, reflected worlds in which the mind could be absorbed, even deluded to believe the impossible, began to fill my pictures. Ghostly, dark trees seemed to stand sentinel over the shimmering, ethereal reflections and once-promising skies. Inexplicably, I began to incorporate painstaking detail into the images. I worked as if in a tunnel, my focus narrowing to the exacting brushwork required to render each reed blade or leaf. I felt both released and caught in the process.

The act of painting became the search for something concrete, something tangible that could be relied upon. However, when I stood back from the canvas, I would often feel both repelled and intrigued by the images that felt alien to me. The paintings were emerging from a part of me that was in such pain, it seemed broken. They were an unbidden and unwanted testament to my hidden grief.

Yet now I can see that these paintings, so dearly wrought, have an aching beauty and complexity that speaks from my heart. Each time I took up my brushes, no matter the fog I was in, a gradual shift was being made. In the same way that when I felt unable to work, eat or be with anyone, just refilling the birdbath or sitting on my lawn and pulling weeds would bring about an imperceptible change. Each minuscule caring or creative act nourished my broken heart and served as a vital if tiny step towards healing.

So, although still wobbling along this path, here I am - mostly by grace but at times sheer grit, daring to write, daring to share my work and my truth with you once more. Here I am, daring to show these paintings to the world, despite my ambivalence about all they encapsulate. Here I am, inviting you to come and see my exhibition and to participate in this part of my journey with me.

Opening in a few weeks at the Braemar Gallery in Springwood, the exhibition is called 'Spirit of Place' and as always you, your friends and family are most welcome. I would love to chat with you at the opening on the 9th of July and toast to… perhaps, a new chapter?

My hope is that this story and my paintings will touch you, speaking into your heart, evoking in you both longing and peace – a sense of your connection to the primaeval stories of love, loss, beauty and courage that unite us. My hope is that, when you find yourself in a time of deep suffering, you might remember what I’ve shared and be able to find solace in small acts of creating and caring.

With gratitude,

Corinne

PS If you feel inspired or prompted right now to do something caring, then I invite you to join me in giving financially to a very worthwhile cause. Together we can help Destiny Rescue reclaim freedom and provide a bright future for children caught in the sex trade and human trafficking.

Go in the draw to win ‘Cloud Dance’, (see below) valued at $1300, when you purchase single or bundled raffle tickets. All proceeds go to Destiny Rescue. (Registered Australian charity that guarantees that 81% of all funds raised will go directly to rescue and rehabilitation programs.)

Tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10, 7 for $20, 10 for $30, 20 for $50 and 45 for $100. You can purchase them now on my website http://www.corinneloxton.com.au/fundraising The raffle will be drawn at the conclusion of the exhibition on 31 July.

Please give generously!

Painting to be raffled: Cloud Dance, oil on board, 40 x 40 cm, valued at $1300