inspiration and art infusion

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I took this pic on a recent Sunshine Coast Hinterland walk. These great trees have a diameter that would require about five of me to hug around its base! They truly are magnificent and I feel such a sense of earthly wisdom and awe when I'm around them. It's almost like they exude a powerful energy, especially within a beautiful rain forest surrounding; their natural habitat. It took my right back to my very first school excursion to a rain forest ~ I've been hooked ever since!
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A recent trip to Underwater World produced some surprising natural inspiration. How beautiful is the flow of these tentacle-like wisps in the water?! And the colours!! Yummmmmm!
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Ahhhh, I was totally awed by the amazing colourings on this magnificent crustacean ~ I love how stripes are combined with spots; pastel colours with spiky textures. Beautiful!
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And the same goes for this orchid. What a magnificent, quirky combo of colour, shape and pattern!
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More and more as I work on my Peacocks and Pinstripes exhibition, I can see how much the things I come across in my daily travels ~ particularly natural phenomenon ~ are fusing into my artworks, and changing the way I look at the world. I'm seeing new colour combinations, new patterns, shapes and amazing textures in nature that are finding their way into my work.
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As I looked back this morning at old photos I've taken of things that inspire me, I noticed how over many years, I've been looking at the world in an unending search for beauty and inspiration ...
Only this time, because of my exhibition, I'm doing it consciously.
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I love how at this stage of my life, making art has opened me up to look for that beauty, to focus on the magnificence in nature. What a gift and a pleasure it is to view the world in this way!
... So I'm beginning to think that being an artist helps me to stay positive and cultivate a sense of awe and joy in the world; to find the beauty that exists every day, everywhere, as long as I take time to look at it. To remember what it's like to be a kid, seeing something magnificent for the first time.
I love my life! And I feel so blessed.
So the next time I'm feeling off, I'll remember this day and take a walk outside in nature somewhere, to look for the beauty that I know to exist.

C xox

Peacocks and Pinstripes progress

So I've been working pretty solidly on artworks for my upcoming Peacocks and Pinstripes exhibition, and my studio looks like a bomb has hit it!
Seriously, the floor is covered in fabric snippets, BOTH of my art-making desks are covered with paint tubes, brushes, paint tins, containers, scissors, glue, boards & stencilling stuff. So now when I walk in and actually want to MAKE something, I have to first create room to do it! Which is pretty much a matter of moving items from one pile of crap to another.
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You might be thinking, 'Why doesn't she just clean it up?' My excuse is that if I do clean it, not 2 minutes later I will get into an inspiration frenzy and mess it all up again.
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So I've pretty much resigned to the fact that for the next 6 weeks, my studio will be in a constant flux of mess migration until my exhibition opens. I guess it's okay. I can't complain, I'm lucky to have a proper studio and not have to overflow my stuff onto the kitchen table instead.
Actually ... now there's an idea!!
C xox

my exhibition ~ Peacocks and Pinstripes

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You are invited to the opening night of Peacocks and Pinstripes, an art exhibition by yours truly! Yaaaaay!

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Friday night March 5th @ 7pm

Mei Li, 115 Brighton Rd, Sandgate, 4017

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Peacocks and Pinstripes will be exhibited upstairs from Mei Li cafe and accessories @ Frank & Myrth, amongst beautiful indie designer clothing.

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$20 Opening night entry fee includes gourmet coffee & cake @ Mei Lei and 5% off all original Peacocks and Pinstripes artworks exhibited upstairs on the night. I'll also be donating a protion of the opening night proceeds to the RSPCA.

Loads of free parking nearby.

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What to expect:

Drawings, paintings & mixed media artworks on board.

Prices from $125 ~ $450 for originals.

Artwork prints and t-shirts may also be available for order on the night (I'm looking into these options).

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About the venue:

Mei Li stocks beautiful, funky jewellery and accessories along with the usual gourmet cafe treats. Upstairs, Frank & Myrth stocks awesome indie designer clothing for both guys and gals at reasonable prices

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It will be a night of serious eye candy!!

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Check out my website for prior artworks (my new stuff will be unveiled @ the exhibition).

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Please RSVP opening night bookings to 07 38692980 or email me @ mail@chrissyforemanc.com

Bring along your friends & family ~ the more the merrier! Hope to see you there!

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The exhibition continues 'til the end of March.

new commission

Orienne. Mixed media on canvas. 2005
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A good friend of mine from high school and I caught up a few months back, after being out of contact for 10 years (oh how time flies!)
She's asked me to do paint her a commission for her lounge room, which incorporates similiar themes to my Orienne artwork (above), along with a photo of her two spunky kids.

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I'll be transforming the photo she's given me of her kids onto the surface in a stenciled format, like the painting below of hubby and I, based on a photo from our wedding.

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Punky Partner Pattern. Paint on board, 2008

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Here's the preliminary sketches I've come up with for the commission, below (click on the picture for a better look) ... If she doesn't like any of them it's back to the drawing board! I'll keep you posted with the progress!
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In other news, I'm still working on artworks for my upcoming Peacocks and Pinstripes solo exhibition. We've booked in a date for the opening night: Friday 5th March. I'll be putting together the invites hopefully this week, so I'll post one here on my blog for you to check out and hopefully come along!

sneak peak artworks

Peacocks and Pinstripes upcoming exhibition: a sneak peak of 5 paintings I've completed so far ...
I told myself I wouldn't upload any artworks until they've been unveiled at the exhibition, but it's a few months away and I just couldn't wait! Plus what's an art blog without pictures? I'm sure a sneak peak can't hurt ...

words to see the new year in by

A beautiful poem my friend passed onto me ~ and now me to you.

Happy 2010 xox

To an English Friend in Africa ~ by Ben Okri

Be grateful for freedom
To see other dreams.
Bless your loneliness as much as you drank
Of your former companionships.
All that you are experiencing now
Will become moods of future joys
So bless it all.

Do not think your ways superior
To another's
Do not venture to judge
But see things with fresh and open eyes
Do not condemn
But praise what you can
And when you can't be silent.

Time is now a gift for you
A gift of freedom
To think and remember and understand
The ever perplexing past
And to re-create yourself anew
In order to transform time.

Live while you are alive.
Learn the ways of silence and wisdom.
Learn to act, learn a new speech.
Learn to be what you are in the seed of your spirit.
Learn to free yourself from all things that have moulded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road.

Remember that all things which happen to you
Are raw materials
Endlessly fertile
Endlessly yielding of thoughts that could change your life
And go on doing for ever.

Never forget to pray and be thankful
For all the things good or bad on the rich road;
For everything is changeable
So long as you live while you are alive.

Fear not, but be full of light and love;
Fear not but be alert and receptive;
Fear not but act decisively when you should;
Fear not, but know when to stop;
Fear not for you are loved by me;
Fear not, for death is not the real terror,
But life -magically - is.

Be joyful in your silence
Be strong in your patience
Do not try to wrestle with the universe
But be sometimes like water or air
Sometimes like fire
Live slowly, think slowly, for time is a mystery.
Never forget that love
Requires that you be
The greatest person you are capable of being,
Self-generating and strong and gentle-Your own hero and star.

Love demands the best in us
To always and in time overcome the worst
And lowest in our souls.
Love the world wisely.

It is love alone that is the greatest weapon
And the deepest and hardest secret.

So fear not, my friend.
The darkness is gentler than you think.
Be grateful for the manifold dreams of creation
And the many ways of unnumbered peoples.

Be grateful for life as you live it.
And may a wonderful light
Always guide you on the unfolding road.

March 1991 by Ben Okri
(Reprinted by the Community Development Resource Association - http://www.cdra.org.za/. Thanks to Mustafa Kudrati for sharing this)