PLANNING AND PREPARATION

These are words that I never use together when talking about my art and how I work as an artist. 

There is no process of creating a painting for me.  What usually happens, is I will get this urge to paint and I'll go to the shop and buy a canvas.  

From there, the picture paints itself.  Most people would be horrified by this notion. "You don't plan your artwork?"

"You don't do a sketch or an outline, so you have some idea of what you are going to paint?"

No I don't do these things. 

When I was introduced to the concept of an art journal, it was my turn to be mortified.  "What for?" I thought, as I stared at the blank page before me.  

The canvas is my visual and spiritual diary.  It is my tool for learning of my ancestors, my history my past, my present and my future all rolled out before me. 

I have no control over what goes into a painting. 

The only thing I control is the physical aspect of it.  The preparation of the canvas and the mixing of the colours. 

Everything else is as it should be.  It is an instinct - a knowing. 

Sometimes I am left confused about why I used a certain colour or why I incorporated a particular symbol into a painting, but then I realise it is not for me to question - it is for me to learn from the stories and legends that are being presented to me. 

These lessons are not always revealed straight away. 

I still have paintings that I painted years ago that I don't know the exact meaning of.  

I quite often sit and look at them (for long periods of time) trying to figure it out.  Then a feeling comes over me as if to say, "In time, all will be revealed." 

That's when I know that there are other life lessons that I need to learn before I get to fully understand or appreciate the stories contained within the artwork. 

Spirit Country

"Spirit Country" is one of the paintings where the story is revealed to me long after it has been painted.  

I completed this painting in 2002. 

However it wasn't until June 2011 that I realised where the place was.  

Our eldest son went on a school camp and I had the pleasure of being asked to come and talk with the students about culture and to share the stories of some of my paintings and read some of my poetry to them.  

I had never been to this particular place before.

Imagine my surprise when I realised that right before me, was a place of cultural significance that I had captured in one of my paintings! 

I stood on the river bank and looked to the left - the smaller Sandy Creek that runs into the larger stream of Lolworth Creek. 

It resonated deep within me.  I was standing right here!

It was just like coming home.  The spirits seemed to rise up from the ground to greet me.  The water spirits danced, the birds sang cheerily and the sun shone brightly. 

I was home back out on country. 

My ancestral country - the home of the Kudjala people and my family group the Mgulaki Clan.

I couldn't have planned for this - only life could have prepared me for this moment.

Therein lies the beauty of my artwork. It flows as freely as the stream that meanders along its path before me. 

I couldn't plan for it - because it just is.