Category Archives: painting

Inner Critic

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I painted ‘My inner critic is no expert’ as a reminder : )

There are days when we are so critical of ourselves… days when we think we can’t or we try but things don’t go well and so we decide we won’t… days when the little things overwhelm us and the bigger picture is nowhere to be seen.

Even if they are few and far between, these days still lurk. They return time and time again. Maybe I’ve just painted* the best thing I’ve ever painted and I feel on top of the world. I move on to the next one and nothing goes right. But why? Yesterday it was easy. Yesterday was a joy. Yesterday I even felt like an artist.

Mark Romer famously referred to this as part of The Creative Process and Danny Gregory has devoted an entire book to the subject (‘Shut Your Monkey’). Yes, I’m a big fan of laughing at our inner critic. We do not ~ repeat NOT ~ have to take them seriously.

Okay, sometimes it’s easier said than done. But worthwhile things are very rarely easy. And creating art, no matter what anyone says, is most definitely worthwhile.

* feel free to substitute any creative activity you enjoy for “painted”

Secrets

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‘Secrets kept her from being lonely’ — acrylic on canvas, 405 x 505 mm. Available.

‘Secrets kept her from being lonely’ is my latest six-word painting. It features (most of) a supermoon and many (many) layers of stars. It’s impossible to take a good photo of this painting now that it’s varnished and super glossy… and prior to varnishing, the colours weren’t nearly as rich and deep and dark. So what you see here will have to do. In real life, the moon and the stars are brighter than the blue text, and the night sky is blue, black, and purple. 🌕✨

And if you want to know a secret, this painting was inspired by a photograph I took of a blue supermoon in 2015. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when I discovered that I not only had a good shot of the moon’s surface, I could also see the different colours of the surrounding stars. Not a bad effort for my little nothing-fancy camera : ) 📷

Yellow Boots

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‘Yellow Boots’ — acrylic on canvas, 405 x 405 mm. Available.

☁️☁️☁️ When I started painting this a couple of weeks ago, the days were indeed grey grey grey and the branches of the plum tree outside my studio (the view that inspired the background of the painting) were bare bare bare. But after a couple of unseasonably warm days (warm, that is, for August in Christchurch), an explosion of little pink blossoms reminds me that spring is mere days away. Sun sun sun, here it comes. ⛅🌤☀️

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Departure and Arrival

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‘Departure’ — acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200 mm. Available.

‘Arrival’ — acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200 mm. Available.

“Art does not reflect what is seen, rather it makes the hidden visible.” Paul Klee

These small abstracts are a continuation of what appears to be becoming a series of sunrises with windows — beginning with my two recent paintings — and although ‘Departure’ and ‘Arrival’ are available separately, I think they look even better as a diptych.

There’s something about a sunrise

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‘Day by Day’ — acrylic on canvas, 355 x 460 mm. Available.

‘Changing Planes’ — acrylic on canvas, 355 x 460 mm. Available.

“Whatever happens next, it won’t be what you expected.
If it is what you expected, it isn’t what’s happening next.”

Brian Eno