Embracing Chaos  31x61cms  Acrylic  2022

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Group Exhibition 
Byron Bay - Oct Nov Dec 2022

I am honoured to have been invited to join a group exhibition at the Byron Bay Library which will be running for three months over the early summer of 2022/23.

All artists have been studying at the Byron Community College in Laneway Studios with Virginia Reid. We are a small band of artists that are addicted to the weekly practice of learning, exploring and developing ourselves as artists. Some of us have been studying and practicing for years, some joined recently, but we all do what we do for the love of it.

This piece, Embracing Chaos, is part of a trilogy which is on show at the exhibition and also seen here:
Embracing Chaos,  Embracing Change,  Embracing Love.

These works were inspired when spending a day with some fellow artists recently. We began discussing our preferred approaches towards painting. Someone remarked how she loves to create from chaos, and I said I loved to create from order.  She challenged me to paint something from chaos. This is what came on the day. I enjoyed the experience, colour and mark making so much I went on to paint two more works.  When I was painting I was reflecting on the many paths that we take in the human experience, and how some seemingly lead into chaos or nowhere, yet we all end up at the same place.   It was great to embrace the play of chaos, only to arrive at Love. 

Byron Bay Library
Crn Lawson & Middleton Street, Byron Bay NSW, 2481
02 6685 8540
 
More from this new series can be viewed here and is available online through Bluethumb Art Gallery.
Obrepat Diptych (1) 

Obrepat
(Latin: creep in or encroachment)

Walking into land, the breeze of friendship rustles majestic gums rooted into white sand, whispering, "Welcome".

Wild flowers of violet and yellow dance across wetlands, enticing footsteps of curiosity.

Bushland reaches back, low and inland, accompanying the meandering creek, tidal in its nature.

Yet turn around and the creeping in of humanity frames the view.

A flat carved up landscape inhabited by juxtaposition dwellings squeezed onto minimal plots, bordered by imposter vegetation.

Like a weed, it's ever hungry and demanding for more space.

The majestic gums, wildflowers and bushland await 'Obrepat'.
  
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mbp

When I come to create I often fall into a quiet contemplation and meditative space, and in that, my mind will often simply surrender to the deeper presence of silence, stillness and spaciousness.

It is here that I wait for the intention, the vision, or the inference of the ‘next step’ of my art practice.

Over the last few years I have learned the value of slow, quiet and simple; and how these can inform and enrich my work.
Purchase MBP original artworks online at Bluethumb Art Gallery.
Byron Bay   NSW   Australia
melindablairpaterson@gmail.com
All images copyright of the artist  ©  2010-2022