DIALOGUE SERIES IN MOTION

Dialogue Series No.1 and No.2 In Situ

As I write this post, several of my paintings from my Dialogue Series are travelling to the Jorge Mendez Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. I’m so pleased to have this opportunity to show my work in this beautiful gallery space, and for my new partnership with Jorge.

This is a significant part of why I make art – to share it with others. 

Packaging up work to ship across countries is always an interesting experience, and one that brings up many layers of emotions. There is excitement at the prospect of the work gracing the walls of a beautifully lit and curated space, then subsequently the homes of future collectors. And there is also the letting go of work that has occupied so much space in my studio, and my heart and mind. 

Typically, I let go of work very easily – ready to move on to something else once a piece is completed. But this series felt different and I found myself deeply connected to each of the pieces in the series, seeing them as a connected body of work that represented something new and intriguing for me. This was in large part due to how this series arrived for me – like a tidal wave of creative energy that needed to be expressed. 

Jorge Mendez Gallery, Scottsdale Arizona

The Dialogue Series is a body of work created between 2020 and 2021 during the Covid lockdowns. This work arrived as a direct response to my observations around being isolated and how that precipitated a deeper internal dialogue. The series is also connected to themes of discourse, communication, impulse and obsession – all prominent in the climate we were occupying. 

During lockdown I turned to my sketchbook practice as a way into this new series. I challenged myself to work in my sketchbook every day for thirty days, paying close attention to what was arriving and holding my interest. 

I often work on two pages at a time in my sketchbook, moving across them to create one image. But at some point in the thirty days I began to create two images – one on each page – that were independent of each other, but strengthened by their relationship. This relationship between these two images, and the dialogue that created, was what I carried forward from the sketchbook practice into my formal work. These sketchbook pages were the origins of the Dialogue Series.

Day 20 of the 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge

The core works of the Dialogue Series are composed of twelve 24x18 inch panels, developed in pairs. I focused on the dialogue between them, along with my internal dialogue, as I worked with the various compositional elements. Each panel needs to stand alone, being a complete and whole statement, but when partnered with its companion piece becomes stronger through that pairing, creating something new. In this dialogue I used juxtaposition to arrive at an interface, where one plus one equals three. 

The working process began with paper being mounted onto cradled panels to offer an inviting surface for various layers of drawing media, acrylic paint, and collage. Instability is exploited as paint is dragged across waxy surfaces, breaking and mixing with what lies beneath. 

Through the language of abstraction, I am responding to the inherent phenomenological and personal meanings that are found in colour, form, line. I employ the same freedom that my sketchbook practice offers me – responding from that same internal sensitivity, and arriving at a pleasing, yet edgy composition.

One of the other unanticipated outcomes of making this body of work was the evolving connection between my sketchbook work and my formal art-making.  

I have always worked in a sketchbook, as it is an essential aspect to my understanding of myself as an artist and the development of my ideas for my work. But, after spending thirty consecutive days working on those pages, I discovered that I could carry forward both an idea and an attitude into my formal work. The “sketchbook mindset” could inform my painting practice. Simply by utilising the power of a good question, I could create work that felt alive and courageous. Work that was both thoughtful and edgy. Work that felt like me. 

You can read more about these discoveries and how I took what I gained through my thirty days of sketchbook work in my post ‘The Essential Questions’ that I posted to my Insight Creative Coaching blog. 

And if you’re in Scottsdale, be sure to stop into the Jorge Mendez Gallery and visit my paintings for me. While I’m keenly aware of their absence at the moment, I’m simultaneously thrilled for the new life they get to have beyond my studio walls. 

Such is the life of an artist – always living in a paradox.

You can see more work from the Dialogue Series HERE.