A couple of weekends ago I went to see the Picasso exhibit
that is at the gallery of New South Wales with my housemate. The Picassos were
amazing, seeing some of the most famous works of art in the world up close with
your own eyes is so much better than seeing a print or a copy. I don’t know why
but maybe you’re not meant to know why; it’s just part of the provoking magic
that is art.
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Muse - Eva Nolan |
I don’t actually want to talk about the Picassos in this
post. I want to talk about a work of art that I knew nothing about and had
never heard of the artist before. This is Muse by Eva Nolan from MacKillop Senior College. The drawing is about the relationship between the real
world, books and the imagination and how books can unlock a person’s creativity
and create something new and exciting. I really like this piece. I sat looking
at it for ages. The girl is almost life size so the drawing is huge with enough
detail so that you notice something new each time you look at it.
Anyone that knows me will know that I live in my own little
world. It’s got the real world in it, I’ve just added to it with some improvements
and additions from my imagination. Hopefully this makes me a delightful eccentric
rather than a down right loony. But it’s nice to see that some other people add
their own imaginations to their worlds too. Every time I see something in life
that strikes me, if it’s a book or a film or a quote or whatever, I spend the
next week or two with it mulling about in my mind allowing my thoughts to feed
of it and use it as a starting platform to jump from. This is exactly what this
drawing did.
Firstly, it made me wonder what my portrait would look like
if I was drawn with my thoughts about me. Hopefully that would be something
interesting and not just a drawing of me looking bored with all my text books and work about
me.
Secondly, this work made me miss drawing a lot. I draw in my
sketch books but I haven’t worked on a large project in years which, when I realised
how long it had been, made me feel rather ashamed and motivated to find a new
project.
This brings me to my third and probably most important train
of thought that started with this picture. It’s hard being in Australia knowing
that I have to go home, it stops you doing things like starting a new art
project as I know I wouldn’t be able to take it home or I might not finish it
in time. It also puts a new perspective onto other aspects of my life, especially
the social side of things, like every friend I have here I know I will have to
leave behind when I go back to the UK and what about Sheldon?! I am going to
have to leave him behind (even if he isn’t my favourite person at the moment as
he nibbled a hole in my very nice and expensive bed spread). But the thought of
leaving all the great people I have met over here has been preying on my mind
and getting me down.
I really hope I can stay in touch with people here and I’m
contemplating doing my PhD here (if that’s still what I want to do after I graduate)
so maybe I can come back and spend a few years here. I know I have another 5
months here but the first 7 seem to have gone awfully quick. I’m trying to
ignore my impending relocation and focus on spending as much time as I can with
the people here who are important to me. I’m not forgetting that when I go home
I get all the lovely people I left behind back too!
I guess the point of this post is that with every new
chapter of your life comes the end of the last one and I even with things like
email and skype (which I will have to teach some people how to use) the world
is still a very big place sometimes.