The Falls collection
This year I promised myself some time off from producing work for shows and for sale, to give myself the space play, experiment and explore.
As part of that time I’ve taken some short courses and watched webinars by generous artists who open up their studios and practices to support the growth of others. I focused on work unrelated to my usual subjects (such as creating my first self-portrait in oils) and experimented with new mediums and materials.
I’ve always been curious about painting plein-air and this seemed like the perfect time to have a go. So I packed up a small plein-air kit with some cheap gouache paints and set off to McLaren Falls Park. I spent a few hours walking and taking photographs, and created 3 very rough sketches.
I then felt inspired to create a few paintings on paper. Again, led just by a desire to explore new processes and ways of working. I didn’t try to give these works a style or constrain them in any way. I found that so liberating and enjoyable, more paintings on paper quickly followed. I soon wanted to shift them onto a larger scale, and then larger again, until in a very short time I realised I had accidentally created a collection.
It’s a collection I’m very proud of. This is how I paint when I’m not thinking about how to paint. I simply allowed myself to observe what I could see and feel and bring that to life on the canvas. Letting go of any expectation of how it ‘should be’ and allowing the brush travel across the canvas and paper as it pleased. Exploring light, breeze, shadow, brushstrokes, energy.
It feels risky to take a side-step and present work that is quite different stylistically to my more recent collections. I have taken this step a few times over the past few years, but haven’t allowed myself to go all the way.
But if you have ever stopped yourself from speaking up at a meeting because you are worried about saying the wrong thing. Or wearing that outfit because it’s not what you’re partner likes you to wear or you think your friends will make a remark, then you’ll know that feeling when you suppress something you that is important to you. So while I understand the market factors behind continuing to create art in certain style, my art is an expression of me and I don’t want to censor myself. Perhaps, a transitionary collection might have been the ‘smarter’ move. But then I’ve always been the type of person would would rather rip the plaster off quickly than pull slowly. None of this is to say that my Summer Nostalgia collection hasn’t been a blast to create, and it also marks a very particular moment in time and my life - of my homecoming to NZ - and I reserve the right to return to it :-) My Summer Nostalgia collection represents a part who I am. My The Falls collection ALSO represents a part of who I am. To me it’s kind of that simple.
This collection may not be the one you were expecting. It’s certainly not one I set out to create, but I think it is the one I needed to create. I am overjoyed with the result.
I hope you love it too.
Please enjoy ‘The Falls’ inspiration video below.
Tracey x