Realisations at the end of a series

Easy to work out what its about in hindsight?

I have finished my series of willow herb paintings and have named then Fireweed – you can see them here. Fireweed is another name for willow herb, because the plant loves to colonise ground where there has been a fire, or where the earth has been disturbed.

I painted them over the summer, later summer and autumn seasons and the series happened in parallel with a summer romance that fizzled out in autumn. I believe that no matter what I’m painting about, I’m always painting about what is going on inside me as well as the more obvious subject. That been especially the case with this latest series. I’ve been thinking about why I was interested in the willow herbs all that time, because at the time all I know is I wanted to paint them.

The outside subject was the willow herb plants and the wonderful colours they show in the flowers and then the leaves from early July through to now. First magenta flowers, then the green and white of the seed heads and leaves, then red leaves, then yellow, then orange then browns and greys, and finally the brown stalks are left at this time of year. The colours are rich and so juicy to play with and reflect the wider natures colours of the season beautifully.

The inside subject is much harder to pin down and a bit vulnerable to talk about in words. In the paintings I can hide and pretend its only about the literal subject, but really I’m making art because I want to express my self and sometimes doing that is confronting.  I went from the joy and hope of new love in summer alongside the fresh colours of the fireweed blooms. Then as the willow herb grows during July and August the flowers seem to move up the stems before they run to seed and all the fluffy fairy wishes are released.  During that time things were starting the change in me too. Then in September and October the leaves of the willow herb change to warm colours – reds, yellows, oranges, golds and browns.  During that time the summer love faltered and waned and naturally came to an abrupt halt. After that it took me some time to mourn and return to normal – the feelings of love died and withered away as the leaves of autumn started to decay. I think I’ve only fully realised all that now both the series of paintings and my time of coming to terms with things have come to an end. I think feelings fuel my creative practice. Its all grist for the mill no matter what other stuff I’m painting about.

What are you trying to express and how vulnerable are you as an artist?  I’d love to hear from you.

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What have I learned in 2023?

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Scaling up….at last!