There is sometime indescribable about walking on the sand of a beach that has been washed over seconds before by ocean waves. It is as pristine an experience as we might have in this modern age where we just have to put our mark on everything in nature.  The very act of walking on a beach can settle a restless mind. Beaches often show the ravages of nature. Trees fall helplessly on the shoreline as their supports are washed away. Nature is not open to being tamed, and will do its will despite our best efforts to hold back time and tide.

Being inspired by the wilderness has been an ongoing passion and as a bit of escapism I reread a book by Joe McGinniss titled Going to Extremes. Written about his year in the Alaskan wilderness in the late 1970’s during the oil boom, Joe describes the spirit of the people, their love of the wilderness and desire to keep it as nature intended.  He also relates how escaping the modern world and dealing with the ongoing cold and isolation has its downsides.

This caused me to revisit in my mind the amazing journey I took in 2009 to Atlin in British Columbia, to visit an inspiring artist Gernot Dick, who had influenced my own artistic journey nine years before when he visited Australia. Travelling via the Alaskan Marine Ferry, the people’s boat, which took us from Bellingham in the state of Washington to Skagway in Alaska, gave me a taste of the spirit of the Alaskan people who had their trucks and animals on the boat. We then went across the historic gold mine railway and into Whitehorse in the Yukon before hiring a car to drive to Atlin.

The inspiration, from my many travels, lingers in the backwaters of my mind and this jumble of information leaves emotions, impressions, and yearnings to express it somehow through artworks. I personally love the way nature erodes the surface of all things creating patterns and designs that seem effortless.  As artists we may expect to recreate the wonder of nature with tools and paints, impossible task really considering how long it has taken natural patterns to occur.

Safe in the knowledge that the brain has the capacity to extract memories from any part of our lives, continuing to feed the creative spirit with what it requires will ultimately allow images and impressions to emerge from a bigger picture perspective. 

Esplanade Coonarr Beach

Coonarr Beach near Bundaberg Qld

How to go the extra mile?…or kilometers as we say in Australia. It was a lesson I learnt on a recent trip to Hong Kong. When a little lost, as occurred on several occasions, I kept going and found my way.  Often, and at times, just around the corner, the road appeared leading to our destination. This experience can be motivational when the going gets tough, as it did when I was spring cleaning and demolishing my kitchen tiles during recent renovations. At times it was daunting.. so much to do.. however the right tools always came to hand when I persevered. I know that in the bigger picture an answer will always appear if I persist.

After two and half months of renovating my artwork is calling to me. Not long now I say to myself. I do plan to take back to my studio my renovating lesson and convert it to..- When all looks bleak, and you are really tired, an opening will happen. Mostly it will require a little extra sweat to complete things to my best ability, and perhaps more effort that I might have been expecting.

My new kitchen comes in three days…meanwhile, needing a little escape at night from the real world, I began reading a novel by Alex Miller titled Prochownik’s Dream. This story about a fictional artist .. funny how we always want to see how the other person lives.. has some great quotes. One at the very beginning by Simone de Beauvoir that rings of truth reads ‘We cannot arbitrarily invent projects for ourselves: they have to be written in our past as requirements’. Then there is a quote by one of the book’s characters .. ‘the most dangerous time for an artist is when his work has found favor with the public. Then he is tempted to stop struggling and that is what finishes him. He stops taking risks.’

Having recently written a chapter about risk taking in my latest book- Harnessing the Power of the CREATIVE SPIRAL  this spoke to me about the need to always go that extra mile…to want the next work to be better than the last in some way, and to reject complacency. Here is a photo of the offshoot of renovating.. a clean studio I call my sanctuary  just waiting to messed up. I cant wait..

As I prepared the art work for a recent six week journey to cover the 4000 km return road trip to the Tablelands Regional Gallery in North Queensland I recall packing into our small but fully equipped caravan a large dose of anticipation, and the expectation that I would return home creatively inspired. One of the highlights of this trip was walking the trail to the tip of mainland Australia at Cape York. I had wanted to do this since driving to Cape Reinga on the tip of the New Zealand continent in 2012. It seemed back then the logical thing to do, to explore the very tip of my own country, and see what would come out of this experience.

The time to do this had to be during the Atherton leg of the Hidden Dimensions travelling exhibition, but we had some time constraints. May is normally the end of a very wet season for the North, and we also lacked backup in the shape of accompanying vehicles, so we opted to store our 4WD and van in Cairns and go with an Oz Tours small group tour. Although not driving ourselves had restrictions I was pleased to be letting someone else with local knowledge take the risks as we observed the remains of shattered dreams along the way. Besides the company was sweet and we discovered a lot about the people that shaped this land. The tour guide was a wealth of knowledge and had so many stories to tell, some just a little more daunting than others.

The trip really began for me on the Bloomfield Track, not for the faint-hearted I feel, as we headed North from Cape Tribulation after our first night in Cooktown. In the end the shining light had to be Punsand Bay, situated 5 km from the tip. Despite housing a large camping resort, relatively empty while we were there, this section of beach remains a wilderness, throwing up a varying selection of flotsam and jetsam and creating a safe haven for marine turtles. One nest erupted with tiny turtle hatch-lings fleeing to the sea on our last night. It was sad to think that not many will survive to adulthood.

With only eight days one way to catch a glimpse of the landscape as we had a flight back to Cairns from Bamaga, I personally missed not being able to visit the more remote indigenous centers. The tour did include a full day on Thursday Island and Horn Island and was ample enough to fulfill the dream for now. Australia is such a large country blessed with many beautiful and inspiring landscapes and I take a lot of photographs to remind myself of this. I am looking forward to a similar road trip, carrying an art exhibition and my dreams to Perth in WA next year.

We became quite accomplished at being on the road, free camping when we could along the way, and meeting others on the journey to explore Australia and hear their stories. All had their own agenda for their travels and there were all ages, expectations and types of accommodation vehicles from the humble to the majestic. Life it seems is just like this trip. Each journey has to be personal and each outcome remains uncertain. As we get wiser we can forget the expectations of others and fulfil only our own dreams. Life needs to be sweet..

‘ Eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste, So shall the knowledge be to your soul, If you have found it, there is a prospect, And your hope will not be cut off.’  Proverb 24:12 KJV

Punsand Bay lagoon

Punsand Bay beach walk

Beach inlet at Punsand Bay

Obligatory photo at Cape york

Children swimming on Seisia Beach

I was pondering new technologies today after seeing so many people going about their daily lives with  mobile phones attached to their anatomy. Are we missing what is happening in the moment while we catch up with life though an object like an iPhone? Face to face may become a thing of the past. We may chose to  shop on the internet,  view everything online and never bother to leave home.  Art exhibition openings in that context may become obsolete.

On the other hand this might give new meaning to connecting with an object such as a painting or sculpture live in a gallery. To hold it in the stillness of the mind for a moment in this situation would be extraordinary. Away from the business of life, an artwork can have a personal meaning for each viewer, and this experience can be best felt if alone with the work.

My current exhibition Hidden Dimensions is travelling and going next to Atherton Tablelands. Last year I wrote a blog post on the value of travelling an exhibition and on Thursday night this exhibition had its fourth venue opening at Noosa Regional Gallery. In was in full swing and we had a very large crowd. This was due to Hidden Dimensions being just one of four openings that night and one gallery held a group exhibition of small works with many local artists participating. Quite a few visitors that night did comment on how they had visited the gallery the previous day to spend time alone with the art.

It was great to see so many out and about especially on such a rainy night and the many artists exhibiting felt some pleasure is seeing their work appreciated. On Facebook you can see the Hidden Dimensions exhibition not long after it was hung… and then be one of the happy crowd viewing the Noosa Regional Gallery opening night There is a write up titled Four Stunning Exhibitions sure to impress by the Sunshine Coast Daily newspaper to read and  you will find the gallery details on the Sunshine Coast Galleries website

Below are a few images of the Hidden Dimensions exhibition which runs until the 26th May. Entry is Wednesday to Sunday from 10am and its free to the public. The address is Pelican Drive, Tewantin, and the gallery is near the Council chambers and close to the Marina. Please do check the opening hours if you intend to go see the exhibitions.

Hidden Dimensions exhibition at Noosa Regional Gallery

Hidden Dimensions exhibition runs until 26th May 2013

twilight Seas 152 x 52 cm acrylic on canvas in the Hidden Dimensions exhibition

The Digital Pigment Print wall