Everything you can imagine is real

June 8, 2017June 6, 2019 | Anna Cull

An Answer to Prayer, detail – mixed media on canvas

“Everything you can imagine is real.” Pablo Picasso

‘An Answer to Prayer’ is my latest painting: an abstract initially inspired by, of all things, fridge poetry.* But the words were just the starting point. This painting has taken me on quite a journey. I’ve ventured way outside my comfort zone. Way, way outside. I have painted abstracts before but this was an entirely different experience and I’ve ended up with something that doesn’t look like anything I’ve painted before. I guess that’s to be expected when you’re experimenting. I would call it an imagined landscape rather than an imaginary one. It’s surreal and personal and creating it has made me see Picasso’s words in a new light.

*Fridge poetry is made from magnetic word sets that can be arranged and rearranged on a fridge door, providing endless hours of fun and amusement. I posted photographs of some of my favourites on Facebook a few years ago. This painting was inspired by one of those poems and was transferred to the canvas using the same technique as ‘Time’.

An Answer to Prayer – mixed media on canvas, 305 x 610 mm, 2017. Sold.

Therapy

March 1, 2017February 28, 2017 | Anna Cull

Distant Sun – acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 mm, 2017. Available on Etsy.

“Will you teach me how to paint?”
“Just paint.”
“I’m not any good.”
“Do it for therapy. You can go to art school later.”
Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Last Night I Sang to the Monster

Another of my ‘leftover paint’ experimental abstracts, ‘Distant Sun’ is newly listed on Etsy.

We are being painted

February 24, 2017November 20, 2018 | Anna Cull

An Approach to Sunlight – acrylic on canvas, 405 x 405 mm, 2017

“To live is to paint, it is to create; but while we are painting, we are being painted, being created as well!” Mehmet Murat İldan

Here is one final Southern Alps painting… for now, anyway. ‘An Approach to Sunlight’ completes the 16″ x 16″ trilogy. It’s a little wilder and more colourful than its siblings.

I think it’s time to move away from the mountains and do something else. I’m not short of ideas — far from it — it’s just a matter of deciding which one to tackle next. Any suggestions?

Any road will take you there

February 21, 2017June 19, 2017 | Anna Cull

God bless our contradictions, those parts of us which seem out of character. Let us be boldly and gladly out of character. Let us be creatures of paradox and variety: creatures of contrast; of light and shade: creatures of faith. God be our constant. Let us step out of character into the unknown, to struggle and love and do what we will. Amen.
‘A Note on God’ by Michael Leunig
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Yes, I’m still exploring Arthur’s Pass in paint. ‘Any Road Will Take You There’ is similar to ‘A Road Runs Through It’ and ‘Summer Somewhere’ but also quite different. This time I’ve hinted at the telegraph poles and allowed the foreground to melt into the mountains. I really pushed myself to do something I hadn’t done before and I’m very happy with the result. And if the title sounds familiar, that’s because it’s a paraphrase of a line spoken by the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.” It’s also a line from a George Harrison song but I didn’t realise that until after I’d named it.

Questions

February 18, 2017November 20, 2018 | Anna Cull

Summer Somewhere – acrylic on canvas, 405 x 405 mm, 2017

“The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them.” Anton Chekhov

I found myself asking a lot of questions while painting ‘Summer Somewhere’ — mainly about colour, mood, and about what was essential to the picture. I painted telegraph poles; I took them out. I had the blue road disappearing into the horizon because that’s what it did; I painted over it. It was too cold, all blue and white and green and grey; I mixed an entirely new palette for the middle foreground. And then I stopped…

Anyone for coffee?

October 28, 2016April 17, 2018 | Anna Cull

They finally arrived in the post… my samples of ‘Canterbury in Pink Light’ as a paper cup! My painting of the Canterbury Plains and Southern Alps was chosen to be one of the artworks in the current BioCup Art Series. I was thrilled when they contacted me earlier in the year and asked me to be part of the project. And now here they are, and they’ve started popping up all over the place… so far I’ve seen photos on Instagram of my cup design in Sydney and Brisbane. I can’t wait to see where they turn up next!

The Art Series is produced by BioPak, an Australian-owned environmentally responsible packaging company that supports and promotes New Zealand and Australian artists by printing their work on BioCups. The cups are available from cafés around New Zealand and Australia. Click here to see the current BioCup Art Series and read about the artists and their artworks.

Anna Cull ~ Art & Music

abstract painting