From My Easel By Carmen Cilliers: Learning From A Child

02 October 2007

Learning From A Child - A city retrospective.

This painting is titled "City Retrospective - Through the eyes of the inner child."

The inspiration for this piece came while I was with a friends son who was drawing and painting along side me. I decided to "take some lessons" from him and observed as he scribbled and drew, painted and let unfold his magical land of houses, lakes and what in the end looked to me like a little village.
Following suite I did the same and the end result is ... "City Retrospective". Although very abstract this painting it is quite remarkable that this painting looks very much like Perth as one would see it from the South Perth Foreshore.

This painting is framed and measures 52 x 72cm(w). Acrylic on Canvas with some silver foil (see bridge). It is bold, modern and no photo that I have taken does it justice!

James - Thank You for this lesson, it goes to show, you never know which easel your next teacher may be hiding behind. Love Carmen.

INTRODUCTION

Hello ,

I am a Perth based visual artist, working mostly with acrylics and mixed mediums on canvas.

At the beginning of 2007 I decided to take a leap out of the corporate world and look to new horizons. Subsequently I studied and and recently graduated as a Transpersonal Art Therapist and through the process some door in my psyche which had silently shut many years ago burst open unleashing a flood of creative ideas and expressions from within.

In a sense my paintings are the story of my life. They contain symbols that represent my emotions, my memories, my fears and my triumphs. Occassionally my work leads me to a place I had not consciously intended to go, but when I reach that moment when "it's done" and sit in silent contemplation of a work like this, another piece of the puzzle that makes up me, is discovered.

Being creative affords me to fluctuate between the highs of the pieces I feel personal success with and the vulgar lows of those paintings that never allow me to down the brush as they battle to tell a story whose image I may subconsciously be fighting to reveal.