At the close of the exhibition this painting featured in, I became curious about whether the girl was’ running away from’ or ‘running towards’something

You see, at that time in my practice I often held back from fully forming a story line to my art, even though it was clearly narrative in nature and full of symbolism. I believed so strongly in working intuitively and allowing the art along with the viewer to construct their own meaning that I held back from assigning my own.

I kept my connection light, which left me with questions and room to make discoveries more gradually. I was comfortable with mystery. This is why, only after the exhibition finished did I make my way more fully to my Starlight Reunion.

Stylistically, the dense star motifs also intrigued me, they were new to my work and something I wanted to continue exploring. So I literally, asked the artwork ‘questions’ . i discovered that she was running ‘towards’ the forest . More answers came in the form of: ‘A Constellation Landscape’, a short prose that I let flow from my pen as I reflected on the image.

A Constellation Landscape

Leaving the castle behind her she entered the forest and followed the stars that twinkled through the branches of the trees, guiding her to a new place.

As she approached she heard humming, water, singing and laughter.

She saw an infinite blue sea beneath galaxies, particles of magic, green islands and trees made of stars

She saw carefree dancers moving in space full of joy and improvising with self-assured steps. They floated through fragments of light, kissing the stars and brushing them with the back of their hands as they passed them by.

This was where dreams came from, where constellations rallied behind humans and creation spread out in abundance.

This was a place of true freedom

A place of miracles.

The castle at the top of a mountain and a young female figure running quickly downhill towards the entrance of a forest, led her to a new reality, and a new world and a story for me to explore in my artwork. That bit of writing fueled nearly 2 years of painting and sculpting, where I too ventured into that magical landscape with her

Artistically, the unique twilight sky in different hues of blue, filled infinitely with stars; and the girl’s dress, camouflaged with those same stars, set me on a path of deliberately filling the space of my canvases with patterns. The dense star motifs eventually evolved into more and more pattern and colour. I learnt how to balance pattern with space and composition; to stay clear of decoration and doodle.

I went on to explore composition and space with densely layered decorative motifs, together with storytelling; trusting the process in ways I had never done before. but it was years before I finally embraced my voice as the storyteller and understood that this was what my art had been telling me all along.

Here is my narration about this painting; close your eyes and listen!

Discover more in my BLOG: Opening Doors about how this artwork set me on track to embrace writing and dialogue-ing with the artwork as an integral part of my creative process