So I’d paid to enter a number of categories in the Open Art and Craft section at this years Royal Adelaide Show, one of them being landscape/seascape in oil/acrylics. It is one thing to say you will do something, but the real test is actually doing it.
The scared little man in me tried desperately to find an easy way out by sowing the thought that ‘as the entry fee was quite cheap, it was no big loss if I just didn’t enter anything and never spoke of it again’. After a couple of stern words, this was subsequently revised to the more manageable, ‘Ok, I’ll give it a crack and if the results are beyond crap, I just won’t enter it – and never speak of it again.’
So now with that little internal exchange out of the way, the next question was of course… what to paint?
There is part of me that is ever fascinated by natures ability to bounce back from the impact caused by us humans. Sure, it can often take a while – often beyond well our own lifespan, but ultimately without constant maintenance the weathering of time will eventually erase every man-made accomplishment and our so called progress.
It is a very humbling thought to many but one I think is important for us to acknowledge and accept. Instead I try to see the beauty in natures ability to restore the status quo, something I hoped I was able to convey in the resulting ‘landscape’ painting.
Thanks to Igor Demidov for allowing me to use his photo of a site in Moscow slated for demolition titled ‘Ruins Dweller‘ as reference for this piece.
