emotional excitement, fear, love and a musical interlude no.26

nest no.9

pencil on paper

i am feeling a range of emotions because i am about to embark on new beginnings in my arts practice, knowing that i have a lot of work to do. since the beginning of this year i have had the opportunity to immerse myself into my studio at least a couple of times a week. this has been so much more intentional and progressive than other years due to less commitments to family, outside work and a renovation that has been taking over for a while. so, I started this whole website thing in August, 2021, in the covid era…. it has been a little part of me for the last 4 years. now it is coming to the fore once again. yay, glad you are here reading….

my new collection which you can view on my website is called the empty nest. i wanted to start with drawing as i have always embraced drawing as a meditative and developing medium. through searching in my being i was able to think about nature and how birds particularly make a place for their young, then they leave. this period of my life is what has happened to me with both my charges being in two different continents in april just gone… one has returned, but due to a busy life, mother doesn’t see him very much. this is the transition many of you make, i know i am not alone, but we feel it, so through my art, i am expressing i suppose an emptiness that once was full, a grief of sorts, a new take on a life. not trying to be all morbid and melancholy as that is not my nature, but it is good to let things out, out of ones’ soul so to speak.

i have had the most wonderful last 4 Friday mornings where i attended the Art Gallery of NSW Lecture series on the Emotions in 17th Century Art. Dr Lisa Beaven imparted her wonderful knowledge and passion of this subject and it resonated with my being. ensuing that i have studied the paintings of the old masters, Caravaggio, Michealangelo, Rembrandt, Gentileschi etc for many a year, she informed us with her refined expertise and exploration of details within artworks of four specific emotions, fear, horror, humour and love. i am trying to think of which emotion settled the most within me, love is an emotion that always is noble, because it makes us feel so good and joyful and gives us trancending vitality and a pleasing life, as Dr Beaven expressed, “it is both frightening and exciting.” the work by Piero della Francesca, Double  portrait of Federico da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza spoke of the love Montefeltro had for his wife to have her forever immortalized on panel. how she was 14 years old at her marriage, she gave him 8 daughters and then she died in the birth of the one son. such tragedy as well as raw grief i am sure this general felt for his beautiful and clever wife. interestingly my new collection has taken on an opposite of love and happiness… is more about grief and loss? mmmm …. interesting…maybe it is because this is what is inside, others only see the outside….

emotional impact is what one thinks about when relating to an audience… an artist is trying to convey a feeling, their feeling, then the audience responds with their own feelings. this all encompasses a life, their experiences and nuances that are all individual and different, and i suppose this is how we all exist in our own world of experiences…

i am so glad I decided to attend these lectures, they gave me such a dynamic lift and i truly would recommend going to things that extend your mortal existence, these teachings definitely moved me. thanks Art Gallery of NSW. 

another wonderful emotional experience i had was last sunday afternoon, i attended alongside my parents and sister, a charity house concert. how wonderful that these two dear friends of my parents opened their home to the Valda Silvy Ensemble which is from the Penrith Conservatorium. four wonderful young musicians, I believe they were all under 20 years old, played flute, violin, cello and piano, they played 3 pieces by Millault-  Sonatine- Quatuor ‘25, Beethoven-Sonata No.8 Op.13 (Pathetique) 1. Grave- Allegro di molto e con brio ‘10, and Mozart Symphony No. 40 (in chamber form) ‘28. What was especially wonderful about the whole experience that it was not through a sound system, it was live, and oh that experience is worth everything, it makes me want to go to the sydney opera house and hear a full orchestra right now… these young musicians were so on point, time and had such devotion and energy, you could see and obviously hear it up close and personal, i could even read the music on the piano to see how difficult and complex their playing craft was. the first piece by Ed Millault was played beautifully and it was said it was the first time it has ever been performed on Australian soil, (as it was french) so I thought that we were privileged to hear that, and that was quite exceptional, don’t you think? for these young musicians i am so delighted that i was able to experience the beginnings of their careers as they performed so well together as an ensemble. music is so important for humanity. i will forever think of this afternoon when again I hear Beethovens sonata no. 8 and Mozarts symphony no 40. how incredibly and pleasantly agreeable the afternoon was. i am very thankful to my friends for holding such a wonderful event.

thanks for reading,

tasha