shadow hunting

Apologies for the quiet around here.

We are approaching the end of the school holidays and two weeks of flu – which has been nothing terrible but with the current swine flue a risk, we have been lying low in case a reduced immune system invites something worse in.

It has been a retreat of sorts.  Lots of time indoors, crafting, watching DVDs, playing DS, making cubbies and chatting.  Going for walks or sorties to ovals for a quick kick around of a ball then home for a rest.  Quite delightful really and a beautiful reconnection in the middle of a busy year, with some more busyness in the background.

I am preparing for my next solo, which will open in the last week of August at Louey & Lane.  It will be around a more abstract theme than I have been painting lately.  A further exploration of the Drift. would… shadows from earlier in the year with lots of new work, and some of my favourites coming out for a second showing.

There has been the struggle for a name.  The realisation that an ad should have been sent to the Art Almanac a few days ago, which has involved some urgent discussions.  And the purchase of some ready-made canvases, which involved a bit of a deep breath (I always make my own but time is running a bit close for comfort).  They are canvas, not linen, but are gorgeous quality and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into them.

The name of the new exhibition will be Chiaroscuro.  And came courtesy of Leonie (bless Twitter and thank you my friend).  It’s perfect, not only because it captures light and dark, which is what these works are about, but because of the double-meaning.  The hidden, revealed and moments of clarity are a recurring theme in my work, and are particularly apparent in these works.  There are big abstracted shadow shapes and a touch of realism in many of them – a corner of something that is causing the shadow.  Like hide and seek.

Must go paint.  and play.