About last night.

Last night was painting class number four. I drove through crazy insane weather, complete with zero visibility fog and rain combinations, to arrive at Studio One filled with renewed zeal and a strong urge to slap some paint on that canvas. I'm still working on the pears. And I am sorry to say that they are still not resolved (painter talk for making something look like a three dimensional object that actually lives in space). Well, two of my three pears are nearly resolved. Becoming resolved. Existing in a semi-resolved state. But I am super happy because last night I had my first painting breakthrough.

Yes, an actual flash of genuine insight into the process of painting pears. Okay, so it might not sound so insightful in the cold light of day but last night under the regulation fluorescent lighting, with a paintbrush clenched between my teeth and a roll of paper towel under my arm, it was extremely meaningful.  (Shouldn't there be some kind of rule about fluorescent lights in painting studios?) My mind boggling revelation was -  PAINTING IS NOT DRAWING. Yeah? Are you with me? Painting is not just drawing with paint. Painting is building, it is construction, it is layer upon layer upon layer like a really good baklava with the super thin flaky but crispy pastry that all combines with the smooshy honey & nuts to make one delicious three dimensional baklava object that lives in space! Haha! Baklava! Just like a painting!

And then, this afternoon I went to the launch of a quite wonderful art exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre. This exhibition has been organised by my friend and colleague, the wonderful Katishe, and it is a forum for the work of local folk who are impacted by living with mental illness. There are some cracker works there and it was just great to see so many artists at the launch gaining some recognition and raising the profile of mental illness in the community. I bought a drawing that I totally fell in love with in about two seconds. It will be coming home to live with me. And even though I drive past it every day, I never get tired of looking at the beautiful Arts Centre building, whether from the inside or the outside. So all in all it has been a winning 24 hours. Oh, and I didn't take the photo of the Arts Centre, I just thought you might like to see it so I nabbed it off the dodgy Council website.