FLASHBACK artwork Copyright 2009 Jean Burman
Sheesh… and I thought I was pushing stuff uphill at the end of 2007! (((chuckles)))
I’m off to Brisbane today to pick up some art supplies. I boxed up much of it when I was home a week or so ago and posted the boxes down to myself here on the Coast… but somehow left behind my large portfolio with a whole (unopened) bag of new paper in it. I had excess baggage anyway… so maybe leaving it behind was a good thing. And I can always get it next time.
Meantime though… I’m chaffing at the bit to get paint to paper. Hence the trip to Brisbane. I can’t wait to browse the aisles of Eckersleys to see what I will find. I love art supply shops. They all have the same smell no matter where in the world you go! It’s a peculiar combination of paint paper clay glue… I don’t know what… but it never fails to spark the flame of inspiration in me.
I knew a guy once who (along with his beautiful wife) owned an art shop. He ran classes occassionally in the loft above the store. He was a big man with a beard and a somewhat gruff personality (if you didn’t know him better). He scared the begeezes out of me for a long time… but then as time went on and I visited the shop and took a few classes… I seemed to catch his drift.
He was passionate about art. Moreover he was passionate about his materials. I remember his thunderous voice on one such occasion loudly booming…
“you’ve got to be in LOVE with your materials”
He punctuated the statement with a ferocious wave of his fist at the back wall where art hung as a glorious exemplary metaphor. I thought he was nuts.
At the time I was only in love with the wafty idea of the subject floating vicariously around in my head… so I didn’t really get it. I thought the paint and the paper or canvas… the clay… or whatever… was just a means to an end.
But no… after all these years… and now that big John has gone to that big art studio in the sky… I do finally get it. I love the stuff that makes it happen!
I do I do I do!
I love the brushes for the varying marks they make… each with their own unique personality. I love the paper which, depending on brand, shape or size gives me a totally different mood and feel. I love the paint as it flows across the paper and settles into crevices along it’s path… creating new and unexpected nuances I could never have ever imagined in the first place.
I love the feel of it. The “doing” of it.
Yes… I love my “stuff”. And I can’t wait to get my hands on it!
After that… maybe a leisurely lunch somewhere… and then on to the Queensland Art Gallery to see what’s new on the exhibition circuit. You might remember my report on Picasso back in August last year which ignited so much new found passion for Modigliani!
Well… watch out here I go again. And depending on whose work is showing… this time they may have to tie me down… (or not!) We’ll see.
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