Bringing the Past Into the Present
Bringing the Past Into the Present, Oil on Canvas; 40.6 x 40.6, Framed $495
This painting is a bit of a relic. It originally was birthed in 2018 when I was undertaking a self-set 108 days of creativity (which I posted through my first foray into Instagram. (Here was my post announcing this endeavour from Oct 2018)… amazing to hear my references to connecting to my joy and my heart!)
I like setting myself challenges. This was a particularly busy time of life. I was developing two yoga apps for my international yoga business; I was taking a course in yoga therapy and juggling single motherhood of a 5 and 9 year old. A lot was going on for me; but I knew that if I didn’t set myself a challenge to prioritise my art, I would put it on the backburner.
When I want to commit to something, I often make a public announcement to hold myself accountable. In this instance, I publicly committed (on Facebook & Instagram) to a ‘108 days of creativity’ and invited others to join along.
In essence, I committed to creating for 108 days - and I posted a daily post of my creations each day to hold myself accountable. On some of the busy days I may have only painted for 5 mins; but having that commitment to myself encouraged me to pick up the brush again and again; prioritising creativity in my life.
During that time, I really deep dived into colourful abstract expressionism. As is often the case, this painting was inspired by a field of flowers. Not an actual field - just a feeling a feeling of a field and an image in my head that I could see. I can’t recall why I was feeling drawn to the orange and blue colour palette… it is not my usual choice - but I will say, I love it’s bright energy.
Fast-forward to 2024 - this painting has been hanging in my hallway the past 5 year. It was a piece that I never felt had reached it’s full potential - and so as I was gathering up my paints and my canvases to come down to my studio in McCrae for the end of the Christmas holidays, I decided to bring this painting along in case I was inspired to breathe more life into it.
I have titled it ‘Bringing the Past Into the Present’ because it is very much so. Bringing this past creation more into life by adding a lot of layering with the palette knife; resulting in brighter and more vibrant energy and colours. Just in the same way that I’m bringing all of the bits of my past and using them as the fire to fuel my present life.
Sometime it can be daunting to restart an old painting. There is a small fear that the new energy won’t marry well with the old. But like in life, you never know until you try. Sometimes things go great, sometimes they don’t. But the beauty is - everything continues to change and evolve and there is no ‘failure’ or ‘success’ per se - just an ebb in the journey.
In this instance, I’m happy with the new result and I suspect a few more paintings from my 108 Days of Creativity will be coming off the walls to be reworked with more texture. Time will tell if they end up enhanced or not 🙃