art

Kangaroo

| Anna Cull
‘Kangaroo’ — acrylic on canvas, 205 x 205 mm, 2020. SOLD

This little kangaroo road sign is officially one of my favourite paintings. Ever. I love the curves and the colours and the sign and the shadow falling across the road. I’m a bit tempted to keep this one… So if you are interested in buying it (and supporting a good cause), I suggest hopping over to my Etsy shop before I change my mind.

‘Kangaroo’ is a painting I have created to raise money for people and wildlife who have lost their homes because of the out-of-control bushfires in Australia. I will be donating 50% of the sale of this artwork to the Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund and Wildlife Victoria. 🇦🇺

Superb FairyWren

| Anna Cull
‘Superb FairyWren’ — acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 mm, 2020

It has been heartbreaking to watch the bushfires wreaking havoc day after day, week after week, month after month. We watch the news from the safety of our living room in New Zealand, more than two thousand kilometres away, and feel completely helpless. I have family over there. My mother grew up in that beautiful countryside. We spent many Christmases in Victoria when I was young…

How do you paint when the world is on fire? What do you paint? Why even bother? And then I found my answer in a Maxine Hong Kingston quote: “In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.”

Also these words from Mary Oliver:

“the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognised as your own”

Te Waikoropupū Springs

| Anna Cull
Te Waikoropupū Springs I and II in the Drawing Room

Happily, these two landscapes are my first paintings of the new year/decade. I began them last year, pronounced them “finished” this year, and have just put a lovely gloss varnish over them.

Te Waikoropupū Springs is known locally as Pupu Springs (never mind) and is one of my favourite places in New Zealand. It is an absolutely stunning place to visit if you are ever anywhere near Golden Bay (at the top of the South Island). Famous for the clarity of its water, the reflected colours ~ especially the ultramarine blues and bright turquoise ~ are breathtaking.

‘Te Waikoropupū Springs I’ — acrylic on canvas, 205 x 405 mm, 2020. Available.
‘Te Waikoropupū Springs II’ — acrylic on canvas, 205 x 405 mm, 2020. Available.

Inner Critic

| Anna Cull

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

| Anna Cull
‘Secrets kept her from being lonely’ — acrylic on canvas, 505 x 405 mm, 2019. 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 : ) 📷