The years 2020-2022 were filled with challenges
In late March 2020, NZ went into COVID lockdown. In early April my husband became very ill with Parkinson's disease complications and was taken to hospital, his condition deteriorated and he passed away two weeks later. As we were still in lockdown visiting was very limited, it was a very difficult time for our family. We'd been married for 49 years.
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| Work in progress: early stages |
I was unable to paint but instead, I worked on two artist's books with sea themes using darkroom photogenic images left over from previous projects: grids of small pieces of encaustic and other media, digital prints worked into with oil paint, and for the pages, I used watercolour paper with ink and acrylic washes. For the covers I used oil paint on calico, and the Coptic technique for binding the book.'All Bound Together' was inspired by The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck.
"it is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again"
'A New Dance' was inspired by Richard Feynman's poem 'I Stand at the Sea'.
In early December 2020, I was mowing the lawn and without any warning signs I had a severe heart attack, but thanks to the prompt action of the ambulance and rescue helicopter teams I was soon recovering in Wellington Hospital.
Through 2021 the heart medications I was on played havoc with my system but when I had the energy I made collagraphs, and during the winter months I worked on a series of small paintings with organic forms based on cellular structures, on oil paper using oil paint and cold wax medium.
Working small was ideal for the continuing Covid lockdowns and the need for self-isolation.
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| Planning the pages for 'Hurly-Burly': paintings, collagraph prints, digital prints |
By early 2022 I was feeling very much better and ready to get stuck into a new project.
The prints and paintings from 2020-21 are earlier would be the subject matter for a new book, and the theme would be the battles that dominated those years, my own struggles during 2020, and 2021, the difficulties imposed by the pandemic, and the lack of international action regarding climate change. I would call the book Hurly-Burly, referencing Lucretius's definition of Chaos as a hurly-burly mass, and the three witches opening verse in Macbeth.
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| The last stitches |
