Sentience
Acrylic on hand-crafted circular board
120 cm diameter, 2022
New ways of working in 2022
Some beautiful shifts in my working methods in 2022. Late in 2021 I bought an iPad and started experimenting with digital drawing. I lost interest in it until I went to Armenia for a holiday and needed to express my reaction to both the enormous amount of plant-life in Yerevan as well as the invasion by Azerbaijan. It took a little while to get used to the smooth surface of the iPad, but now I am quite hooked on working with it in tandem with my paintings.
The first major painting of the Sentience series is a handmade tondo entitled Sentience. The series was inspired by observing the trees during a Vipassana meditation course. Looking up at the giant blue gums, their silent communication became quite palpable, as well as the sense of the very long time their conversations must take.
There has been extensive research into the sentience in plant life, highlighted, for example, in books by Monica Gagliano, Suzanne Simard and Peter Wohlleben, which indicates that the conversations continue both through the air, via scents, and underground via the mycelium of fungi. Accordingly, on the unseen verso of this work I’ve painted the unperceived, underground portion of this conversation.
Sentience (verso)
The unseen, underground portion of the conversation
Sentience in the studio
Some sketches done at Vipassana meditation centres
First sketch of the sentient trees
Sketching at Pamona
Moontrees
Late in 2021 I bought an iPad and started experimenting with digital drawing. I lost interest in it until I went to Armenia for a holiday and needed to express my reaction to both the enormous amount of plant-life in Yerevan as well as the invasion by Azerbaijan. It took a little while to get used to the smooth surface of the iPad, but now I am quite hooked on working with it in tandem with my paintings.
Here is the painting, Moontrees and an adaption of it made whilst I was painting the original. The adaption is now a limited edition print, which I quite love.
Armenia
An inspirational holiday in Armenia. Beautiful churches, alarming road crossing signs, and I learnt to make Matnakash (finger drag bread)!
In September/October we were travelling in Armenia for 6 weeks and as I was sans studio, I delved into creating digitally based art! It took some time to get used to the smoothness of the iPad, but now I quite love it and all the possibilities that come from working with printed media.
Here are two limited edition prints developed during the holiday. They can be found in my gallery along with other new work developed in this method.
‘Marshal Baghramyan Ave’ and ‘Secret door on Abovyan Street’
Marshal Baghramyan Ave
Limited edition print
Secret door on Abovyan Street
Limited edition print
Back in Brisbane
When we arrived back in Australia, I had the good fortune to go to Binna Burra Lodge for a discussion about forest sentience as part of their Art, Nature, Science program which was developed by Renata Buziak.
The studio in October 2022
At Binna Burra Lodge
This year I also had the great pleasure to work with Rachael Gibson on a tondo of her as part of the sleep series. Rachael is a yoga instructor and acrobat, and a beautiful soul.
Rachael over time...
And to round the year off nicely, Plexus Gallery ran its Small Works Show until the beginning of 2023!
