Journeys through the peony garden
In early 2019 Aileen and I were in Italy and France exploring new towns and revisiting some “old friends” unaware, like all of us, that something would soon rear up and dominate world events for two years – and probably beyond. In the turmoil then and now, I found myself in a fortunate position where the galleries that represent me pushed their boundaries and found a strong response from people now at home, their lives inside their houses. Undoubtedly everyone has a story to tell about how they dealt with those difficult times - for me it coincided with developing the discoveries from that trip. This is my third solo show since returning from Europe and the ideas are coming into bloom now with this new body of work at Gallery One. The discovery in Rome of the oft-mentioned but not before seen peonies on the roadside near the Merca- to Trionfale was quite a surprise They were an explosion of colour and panache. We piled on the train back to our accommodation at Villa Ruffo with an armload of flowers, everyone viewing me as a likely hopeless romantic. The following photographic sessions with those flowers was very intense: I was not in my studio, I did not have the camera I would normally use and I had no access to the things I so often include in my paintings. The colours of these flowers, pure and intense, were vivid and saturated while the fragile delicacy of the petals was so revealing of moods and swings of temperament that I had not yet felt or projected. This was my first revelation. I still use many of those images to develop my ideas and compose new works and I have found different styles of peonies in Australia to add to my resources - it is a work in progress.
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