Twitter Art Exhibit #TAE22

Delighted to support this years Twitter Art Exhibit #TAE22 with these two postcard-sized paintings (see them below). 🙂

The Twitter exhibition is held in York this year. All the proceeds from the sale will go to The Encephalitis Society. The charity is doing vital work by raising awareness to Encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain. To find out more about their work, visit their website, link above.

For this cause, I wanted to donate two paintings; one created using my intuitive explorative style, the other through inspiration from a photograph I took.

Artwork 1

Rising Trees, Watercolour on paper, 2022

‘Rising Trees’ is an intuitive abstract landscape. I love immersing into the energies around me, and translating the feelings it evokes in me into paintings. This way of working I adopted by using the Surrealist’s stye of automatic drawing; inspired by the term Automatism coined by physiologists of the time.

Automatism as a term is borrowed from physiology, where it describes bodily movements that are not consciously controlled like breathing or sleepwalking. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud used free association and automatic drawing or writing to explore the unconscious mind of his patients.
Freud’s ideas strongly influenced French poet André Breton who launched the surrealist movement in 1924 with the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism. In the manifesto, Breton defined surrealism as
‘Pure psychic automatism … the dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason and outside all moral or aesthetic concerns’.
Breton and others produced the earliest examples of automatism in their automatic writings, aiming to write as rapidly as possible without intervening consciously to guide the hand.
Tate.org

This idea of ‘absence of all control’ and creating has always fascinated me since the days at University; – when I brought doodles into my paintings. But I digress, I will write a post on this in the coming weeks.

My intuitive paintings are my way of connecting with this process of automatism and creating colourful creations; however they may turnout. It’s always a lovely surprise. ‘Rising Trees’, to me, evokes feelings of new horizons, new beginnings and growth. This message felt like a perfect fit for the Twitter Art Exhibit #TAE22. 🙂

Artwork 2

A Different Perspective, Watercolour on paper, 2022

‘A Different Perspective’ is of a photo I took when I was in Sicily. It looks down onto the beach from a higher perspective. It’s both humbling and inviting curiosity. The view from so high up and the peculiar angle, in some ways, grounds you; bringing you to a sense of wonder and gratitude. I hope it brings a serene comfort and curious wonder to all who view it.