My family in 2015.. photo by Madi Whyte.
Well I can’t believe that 2015 is done.
It was a full and productive year. A year with a new baby added to our family and new creative opportunities.
In January I did a workshop with artists Ghostpatrol and Twoone. This resulted in a further five murals in 2015. They are something I have wanted to do for a long time. And so it has felt very satisfying to be finally doing them.
I also had a solo exhibition at the Hamilton Art Gallery. Most of the painting for that was done in the hours from 8pm till 1am. So I spent two thirds of the year quite sleep deprived. Crazy really, as I also had to get up to the baby. For me it is better to be tired but productive, than less tired and less productive (but frustrated). In this exhibition I showed some very large works and experimented with the “three point portal” and “thought catching” installations.
2015 was the year of my visually shifting more and more to geometric forms to tell my ‘stories’. I have been very pleased with the finished aesthetic of these works and the clean lines fit my obsession with owning all of the surface of an artwork. The triangle and the cube took centre stage last year and 2016 will see me further developing some of my ideas with geometrics.
The final event, and the highlight for my professional year, has been having my work now included in a group exhibition at the Scott Livesey Gallery. Here my work has been hung alongside some very well known and successful Australian artists and I am very glad for this opportunity.
It wasn’t all roses though, as 2015 was a challenging year for me personally. I have at times struggled to deal with the limitations associated with parenting, and also found myself exhausted by the military approach I must have, to be able to have time for my art.
The “balance” has had to be reassessed many times in the last twelve months and it is only now that I am reflecting on the year gone by, that I feel ok about giving myself a massive back pat. Pat pat pat…
I have many people to thank, especially those of you who have put your money where your mouth is and paid for my work, (my passion and my time). It is an exchange of energy and I am grateful for it. Thank you, your support means I get to keep doing what I do.
I also want to mention my husband here and acknowledge his ongoing support and his “team” mind set. It must be very hard being married to an obsessing artist sometimes. The value he puts on my creative work and my long term goals for my art, allow me to achieve the things I do. He also takes an active role in the running of our house and with parenting duties, (as much as his own work allows), and for that I am extremely grateful. There are many evening he does a days housework, while I am locked up in the studio and for this I am forever grateful.
During the day, when I have painted murals, I have had a teenage friend babysit for me regularly, (thank you Carly), which is the only way I get to keep painting and working as I do.
I haven’t blogged much this year here on my own blog, but I have done a year of guest blogging over at the Creative Womens Circle blog. The research I have done for these posts has been inspirational for me, as I have learned so much about the lives of creative women I admire. It is nice to be reminded that we are not alone in our struggles and that the search for balance between the domestic and the “divine” has been around since the beginning of time basically. (Do google my one on Patti Smith).
Anyhow, whats for 2016? More of the same. More creative work, more murals and more painting. On the family front, another child going through year 12, (worse than the first year of life I reckon), more connecting, more blogging (more trips out of town), and generally me seeing what doors open and if possible walking on through them.
Thanks for joining me, encouraging me and working with me…
Jasmine x