Creative Thinking and the Inner Artist

How do artists work through creative block?  The kind of creative block I am interested in is working block, when you persist in the studio but find it difficult to create work that speaks to you. During these times I feel I may never be able to paint successfully again. It’s usually about this time I find deadlines popping up to add a sense of apprehension to the mix.

Now the great thing about my current situation is that it will give me the grist for my next book. I need something to share, not only in the writing of the book, but in the creating of new artwork. Recently I began to explore an idea that has followed me for some time. I had on hand all my beautiful photographs taken to record my travels, to inspire me, and I was looking for a way to give them a presence; a more direct input into my art process. I found the best tools on hand, besides tapping into my own creativity, was the internet, and my many books.

The internet has a lot to offer us all. I discovered, through research, that I could create original artworks by taking my photographs on a journey to another place through different media. I love making these new images and they have in turn opened the door to exploring new ideas for my painting. I am also continuing to investigate the philosophy behind art creation and phenomenology, all giving me a new way to look at things.

Books give me a lot of inspiration and I collect them with a vengeance. While on the Sunshine Coast for my recent Mt Coolum opening I bought a box full at a Book Fest.  Very few were in the art section but in the surrounding bins were treasures. What did I find? I found a book titled Tyler Graphics : The Extended Image, so inspiring and just what I needed to open my mind a little more.

There was a small book in a second hand bookshop in Eumundi on Helen Frankenthaler’s work.  I recently found her work online and she was an innovative painter from over 50 years ago. I also found a book on Japanese architecture, and another on Chinese brush writing and mark making. To break through block I always need to be inspired, to feel I have something to say about the world.

These days I am seeing everything in a new light. This is a link to some of the original archival pigment prints I have been working on { POA }. They were all completed within my studio and presented on Stonehenge Art paper. I feel I have only just scraped the surface with this project so much to pursue and so many resources at hand.

Calm before the storm : Original archival pigment print

Hooked on You : Original Archival pigment print

Artist Jon Cattan at QUT talk

Being an admirer of Jon Cattapan’s artwork for quite some time, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity today to hear him speak about his processes. The QUT Art Museum often has artist speakers on a Saturday morning after an opening, and although I live an hour West of Brisbane it is always worth the trip.

Last year I was present, at different times, to hear other well known Australian artists such as Judy Watson, Lawrence Daws and Mandy Martin speak at this Museum. These were all enlightening and intimate talks and today was no exception.

Jon Cattapan’s exhibition works were related to his time as an Australian war artist in East Timor in 2009 and he was friendly and generous and offered an insight into a prolific and engaging career. Jon talked about painting being in the land of happy accidents and also that one should never pass up an opportunity as participating will inform and impact on creative work.

Commenting that while he didn’t usually plan his paintings to the degree he did with this work Jon said that the physical act of painting always takes him somewhere else.  The idea to use the nightscape for this work, and the concept of green from the night vision goggles, produced an amazing vibrancy. I was so pleased to be seeing these paintings in real life.

The overall impressions I have gleaned from listening to artists of this calibre is that they pursue, with great passion, a vision that is very focused and committed. They are deserving of the acclaim they receive from the art world. They are all prolific and I love the fact they all work with painting mediums.

There is a catalogue available titled Perspectives which includes the two war artists in the exhibition, the other being  eX de Medici. I also love the book I own,  available from books shops, titled Possible Histories  written about Jon Cattapan’s art career history by Chris McAuliffe. The exhibition runs until the 24th June at QUT Art Museum at Gardens Point Campus,  2 Goerge St Brisbane.

Jon Cattapan with Night Patrols triptych

Jon Cattapan with Carbon Print drawings

A recent quote from long time Australian musician Vince Jones caught my eye in the Weekend Australian paper on the 18^th March. Vince talked of integrity and always playing at the highest level. He said that being a musician requires dedication and practice and it was his description regarding music as art, and how art unites people, that resonated with me.

Vince believes that art has an impact on people’s souls; the opaque becomes visible, the mysterious clear and the probable necessary. I have witnessed this phenomena many times. In Shanghai in 2003 I had an epiphany standing in front of a painting by acclaimed Chinese artist Zhou Changjiang. I wrote about it in 2007 in the Gleaner or Gladiator book.  I remember clearly being suddenly in a spin, disappearing into the painting in such a way that it changed me forever. I have been on a mission ever since and have my own experiences of viewer’s reaction to artwork .

Words and art connect. At times I unexpectedly find myself receiving confirmation of my creative journey.  Recently I discovered the poems of  Dorothy Walters. A retired university professor, Dorothy has written many wonderful poems and has published books including one I just ordered, ‘A Cloth of Fine Gold’.

Dorothy talks of true passion in the poem What a Heart Wants. She writes of an invitation that doesn’t come with bells and whistles but arrives as a soft whisper, in a language familiar but forgotten, that requires us to put down everything and be still and wait until something inside stirs. This is reminiscent of the way American artist Cy Twombly choose to work in his studio during his long distinguished career.

A more recent development in my journey is a special visit I am having in a few days time with a Shanghai couple. They are collectors of my paintings, and own the painting on the cover of the Gleaner or Gladiator book.  On their first visit to Australia I am privileged to show them our country. The most amazing aspect of this visit is the connection that will occur, after nearly 10 years, with their long time friend Zhou Chaingjaing.  Art does indeed unite people.

Places are still available in my Caloundra Regional Gallery  workshop in May. See Workshop Page

Gleaner or Gladiator: The struggle to create

Calm before the Storm - archival pigment print

Having just returned from travelling to the tip of North Island in New Zealand in a campervan I am currently revisiting this diverse journey of ten days through a myriad of photographs. Prior to picking up the van we spent 3 days in Rotorua where I gave a two day workshop to a group of very enthusiastic Kiwis, then went to

Thermal volcanic colours in Rotorua

Wai-O-Tapu thermal area for my second time before passing through Auckland on our way to Cape Reinga. This was my fourth time to N Z and I am becoming very acquainted with it’s seemingly endless beauty.

Basically following the Twin Discovery Highway in Northland we met fellow travellers from around the world, one of the many joys of going via the camping path. My plan was to explore as much as I could to compare with a journey next year to Cape York on the tip of Queensland, my home state in Australia. My interest in the elements and the way the wilderness reclaims very quickly the traces of human intervention has lead me over the years to some very special places. North Island’s beaches always excite me, not for swimming, but because it contrasts my own island upbringing in Queensland through the many different geographical aspects.

Giant sand dunes near Cape Reinga NZ

Although we were on a well-worn route starting with the less inhabited West Coast there remained a very strong spiritual connection to what we encountered that left me feeling very humble. Nature just seems to always get it right, from the colours experienced at Rotorua to the incredible light seen at Cape Reinga at dusk, to the quiet stream that ran at the feet of giant sand dunes offering a road to Ninety Mile Beach for the more adventurous.

Everyone we met had their own agenda yet we were all searching for that special something: the newly weds from India on a bus tour, the adventurous young couple from England exploring their destiny in a camper, having seen four Asian countries before NZ and coming next to Australia, the older Canadian couple on a self drive, and a couple from Alaska who assured us they live in the best part of the world, but want to explore different environments.

The inspiration was everywhere. I viewed interesting art in the Village Arts Gallery in the small town of Kohukohu, and a serenely presented Helena Bay Hill gallery café on a hillside at  Hikurangi, numerous art colonies and galleries in Whangarei, where a sculpture in the park symposium was coming to a close, and  I placed some of my books in historic Reyburn House  Art Gallery.

On the way home I picked up a copy of London based Kiwi journalist Garth Cartwright’s book Sweet As to read on the plane and his stories of exploring his country of birth made me wish I had found it earlier.  Please enjoy more of the photographs from my memorable journey on my Facebook page

Cape Reinga, the spiritual tip of North island, N Z

I can still find it a challenge to write a media statement especially a personal one I want to have published relating to an exhibition. I discovered a long time ago that if you write an interesting informative article, and offer to be available for, or can supply a photograph, your words will often get published in whole. Journalists are busy people so if you make their job easier, all the better. It does need to be written well and not be ambiguous, so have a trusted friend or two check the article.

For a media release I like to use the Who, What, How and What IF formula I began to use a while back. WHO – is the article focused on and WHO is it trying to reach?. WHAT important message it is conveying? This can include statistics but add a sense of mystery ‘ it comes as no surprise to find there is a hidden layer within her work’ and be a little poetic, such as.. a recent collector said ‘ there is a richness, a diversity, a vibrant strength at the core of this work ’ WHAT can include other important things related to the person or event. Make it enjoyable to read so they will want to be involved.

HOW can the reader go to this event is next in the article , and what other important alternatives are there that they might find interesting. WHAT IF is for the alternatives, if they can’t make the opening event for instance,  and want to see more online. Don’t forget to finish with times, dates , addresses and telephone contact. Make sure to add your address and phone number at the very top in case a journalist wants to contact you. If you include a photograph please make sure it is a good clear image, at resolution which could to be used for different effects.

Meanwhile,if you happen to be in the Ipswich Region in Queensland in the next month, [ this is not part of my  media release blog story by the way, just some relevant information ] I have a diverse selection of my artwork and books being featured in an interestingly  unique gallery space in the old East Street church and antique precinct until the 26th February. Along with paintings will be some of my photographic works that have been developed through a hands-on artist lift process. The gallery name  ‘Naked Arts’ stands for art at the core I am told.. sorry, in case you are wondering, the focus is my wilderness landscape paintings.

The exhibition will run from 21^st Jan – 26^th February and you can enjoy refreshments and have a book signed at the gallery on Saturday 28^th January. Naked Arts Gallery and Studio is located at 86 East Street, Ipswich and open 10am to 4pm. [Closed Tuesday and Wednesday ] Contact Tom on 0418 150 705. See the  Video of us hanging the show.

The images below are examples of the digital, artist hand lift limited edition prints which are in the Ipswich exhibition.  All articles and images on this website Copyright Lyne Marshall 2012

Ghost Gums, digital hand lift

Hooked on You