Jennifer M RyanSolitary Freedoms … thoughts before I begin
I’ve been taking stock of my Art Life, again. Mainly because I’ve been putting another exhibition together. Fighting myself to claim my dream.
My art has never seemed more alive and dynamic, than it is today. My space is home to an amazing array of artists, Bina, Marci, Dave, Brighto, it’s no wonder that The Discover Coast is one of the best place to nourish a creative spirit. The mid-20teens saw an amazing increase in the number and variety of art I saw within me. Since then, my art adventures and experiments have thrived not only from my home work spaces, but also as street art projects, in galleries and pop-up market stalls. Today my strongest urge comes from my past. Digital Art, that is what is calling me now.
The Start
Promise. I can promise that because I like walking on tightropes, stepping off a cliff and being that person – figuratively speaking. Of course.
My life has never seemed more alive and dynamic, than it is today. ‘My space’ is home to an amazing array of cretive people: Bina, Marci, Dave, Brighto. It’s no wonder that The Discovery Coast is one of the best place to nourish a creative spirit. The mid-20teens saw an amazing increase in the number and variety of creativity I saw within me. Since then, my adventures and experiments have thrived not only from my home work spaces, but also as street art projects, in galleries and pop-up market stalls and in my writing. One children’s picture book. 256 poems written in 202. A challenge and response to CoVid. Today my strongest urge comes from my past. Digital Art, that is what is calling me now.
Not Quite Repitition
I have selected a few specific works.
I created these digital images from an acrylic art work. Living near the coast in central Queensland, the seasons play a large role in everyday life. The ‘windy seasons’ is not my favourite one. The original work shared some of the simple accommodations needed to survive this season.
My collection of tiles show, individually simple effects, that as a whole are a jolting reminder of my bush walking, water watching, and bush secrets.
In my little bush hide-a-way, on the outskirts of Agnes Water, my gardens are not home to the same plants and flowers of earlier homes. While there is a lot, lot, of green and beautiful native orchids the vibrant colours of formal roses and shy WA native flowers. I miss roses most of all. This tribute to my heritage rose plant speaks of that loss.
At my computer I can recreate some images previously only alive in my mind. Walking our bush block it is easy to see evidence of a great number of animals and plants stretching all the way to the boundary fence, near Captain Creek. In one particular stroll I collected images of common and rare colours, shades and tones. My Tree View project was launched ton that day. As a consequence, you can now find beautiful digital artworks based on this collection. This work is like a guided tour through my bush block, offered as a celebration of rural life.
This is another creation, not floral, employing the colours collected in that walk. This belongs to me Water and Light project. Hoping to contrast the solidity of the trees and bushes of the Tree View project, this project maps the seasonal changes as vibrant and demanding.
I first started practicing digital art, my tools were a ROM pen camera, 2mp, and some Windows software, and a very beautiful, white Epson laptop and some 3.5” floppy disks. To this day I remember the time I spent rushing my images to the laptop before they disappeared forever. To breathe new life and revitalize my view of the world, I had to suffer the many jibes and much ridicule of non-tech engaged peers. Little did they know I still loved film cameras and used them often. They could never predict what I could already see as the future of photography and art.
My artistic creation follows a free flowing river, full of rapids and the occasional calm inlets. Not limited my specific themes or experiences. My works are always close to my way of thinking, my experiences of my life – past and present. When people talk about art they see “abstract”, “watercolour”, “realistic”, “fine at”. And they think that is what it is. When, actually, it isn’t. I want
to change how people see things so they think in another way as they stand before a work of art.
