Remember this little hint from last week...?
This post about some frenchness in Alice mentioned that we went shopping in Alice Springs... And also that we found some gorgeous aboriginal art. Well, here it is! We brought a few paintings home with us. They were packaged up in this mailing tube which was a great way to transport them; durable, not at all obvious and compact. We needed it to be compact or it would not have fitted into the car for the long drive home!
It's quite a delicious feeling opening the tube. Out pops the lid, and then you (gently!) pull the rolled up canvas' out. I love the raw canvas, it's a really heavy woven linen... And there's something about raw, fraying edges :-) Especially when you have the Aperture set right.
So then there is the lovely moment when you unroll the canvas'. To see the colours burst through. It's a bit like the actual shopping moment. As you look through the paintings for those particular ones that pull at your heart strings. When you are home again and you unroll the canvas' from the mail tube you know you already love what's inside (or you hope you still do after parting with that valuable money!). But when you walk into the galleries, for us it was this gallery, there are tables and tables covered in piles of canvas paintings. There are racks lining the wall, again holding many paintings. It's lush! Heaps of colour and texture (even though it's only paintings).
Here's our own little stack...
As you start to filter through the piles, you slowly peel back painting after painting to reveal the one below. And they speak to you. The colours call. The lines lure. The textures talk. That's what it's about - the art that talks to you. Australian aboriginal art is so diverse. There are many artists out there who paint in their own styles, but they are all telling a story. A story about their land, and that land is our land too. And we love our land.
Our paintings are from the artist Barbara Weir. She paints the grasses. Through all of the seasons, showing all of their colours. We are lucky enough to have some very contrasting images of these grasses; all at different times in the seasons. This story and her style clinched it for us, made our decision. After spending a fair bit of time at the farm, here's the last post from there, we get grass. We understand her story about it's changeableness. We share in it. But for others the decision-making process is difficult. So many paintings, all telling a story.
I've mounted our paintings onto wooden frames. The frames are those found in any cheapo shop covered in canvas. With a jar of thumb tacks and these frames our paintings have become an artwork to hang, and not a canvas to lay on the table to look at. Lovely!
And so ends the story of our art from Alice. Almost. You see, we are yet to find the right spot to hang them. They are currently residing on the lounge room shelves, but it's a bit too busy on those shelves already so something will have to change. Those colours are fairly bold, so who knows where the works will end up! Will show you when we find that perfect spot ;-)
Am off to enjoy MY at-home day... it's been a busy week and I feel the need to hide at home today. Maybe even get some ironing done. Definitely catch up on some other people's blogs. Staying warm by the fire. I might even try and plan my life for the next few months - it's looking scary! How is your planning, and your next few months? Somehow I'd like to pop in some photo challenges in there too... Any ideas?
