Sally Barron Artist

Key Questions ‘Re-thought’

I have been exploring the essence of painting a landscape, going beyond representation; I can see that this delves into the connection between the artist, the medium, and the emotional resonance of the natural world. My artistic journey questions the act of painting, pondering the landscape's meaning beyond its visual portrayal. Embracing abstraction, I employ intuitive mark-making and instinctive color choices, aiming to bridge the sensory experiences of nature with emotional experiences, and memories.

Emphasizing the materiality of my medium, I alternate with acrylic and oil paints, blending them with turps, oil, beeswax, and glue. This fusion often yields unexpected results and spontaneous 'outbursts' of activity. By integrating techniques such as sanding, bleaching, and scraping back, I explore the transparency and layered history of colors, revealing past processes and emotions embedded in each stroke.

In my pursuit to evoke emotions visually, I draw inspiration from the intricacies of human vision. I replicate natural eye movements in my brushstrokes and incorporate peripheral blurred areas, mimicking our visual experiences. Harnessing the phenomenon of after-images, I infuse my landscapes with residual colors seen after exposure to light. Drips, runs, and hand-pressed imprints enhance this dialogue between thought and medium, creating a visual array of emotions.

While rooted in en plein air techniques, my work goes beyond recognizable forms, delving into the 'landscape of the mind.' Studying pioneers like Hilma af Klint, Piet Mondrian, and Per Kirkeby, I find guidance in their departure from literal representations, (fig 1, 2 & 3), yet their insistence is that colour has a substance.

Contemporary artist Shara Hughes' exploration of the psychic landscape particularly inspires me, showcasing the power of colour choices and composition untethered to reality. fig 4

The question that emerges is not what to paint, but how to paint it, echoing the sentiment that color, like music, is a language connecting the artist, the canvas, and the observer.

Beyond the Garden
2023
Oil on canvas 1650 mm x 1800mm
Sally Barron

Further layers have been added to this piece and now I’m letting it dry before it is stretched and I may work on further next week. I have been experimenting with taking away as much as adding. I still want to incorporate collage elements into some of the works.

Rosy Lamb is an American painter who gave a talk Name the Colour, Blind the eye, about active colour perception (Wheaton College Massachusetts September 2023) Lamb suggests we have learned to think of ourselves as unable to see colour relationships for ourselves, and that we talk about colours as separate things , commodities, primarily consisting of a few rainbow hues. In fact colour is everything we see and no colour exists by itself. It is the way our eyes and brains perceive relational differences in the visual plane. “We can learn to intuitively play with and associate colour just as we play notes to make music.”

fig 1
Hilma af Klint
Series 1, no. 5
19019
Oil paint and graphite on canvas

fig 2
Piet Mondrian
Flowering Apple tree

fig. 3
Per Kirkby (1938-2018)
**Wald-Variation VI. , 1989; Medium: oil on canvas; Size: 200 x 130 cm**

Both Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondrian had a strong connection to nature and its interconnectedness, which they expressed in their abstract paintings. Their artworks served as visual representations of ideas that circulated within a broader space—a blend of spiritual, cultural, and scientific thinking related to nature and art. They were influenced by various spiritual guides and cultural thinkers, and their impact extended beyond art, touching upon discussions about nature, science, spirituality, and interconnectedness. In their abstract paintings, they aimed to illustrate these complex ideas in a visual form. This could also be applied to Kirkby and Hughes.

Further learning includes going to see

First Peoples Exhibition Auckland Art Gallery

This exhibition proves to be very pertinent to my Key questions as it explores the connection between people, land and art.

First Peoples Art of Australia is the largest overview of art by First Peoples of Australia to be presented in Aotearoa.

“Exploring the interlinking themes of Ancestors, Community, Culture, Colonisation, and Identity. Knowledge systems are passed down through oral histories, dancing, stories and songlines or songspirals that traverse diverse lands, coming together to evoke Ancestral creation stories known by some Communities as the Dreaming or Tjukurrpa. Art is also used as a tool of resistance. Artists utilise wit and juxtaposition to encourage conversation about critical issues of the past and present. The artworks included in Ever Present address Australia’s complex histories and challenge stereotypes about First Peoples of Australia.“1

The exhibition includes some of the most influential First Peoples of Australia artists including Brook Andrew, Richard Bell, Bindi Cole, Karla Dickens, Jonathan Jones, Mabel Juli, Vernon Ah Kee, Kunmanara Ray Ken, Emily Kam Kngwarray, (see below fig 4.)

fig 4
Emily Kam Kngwarray
Anmatyeerre people 1908-1996 Australia
Yam awl 1995
synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Observing the incredible effects and site specific stories from the works in this exhibition I note many of their works use repetition of shapes and patterns to create a ‘vibration’ that happens when the eye sees a repeated image.

This ‘persistence of vision’2 effect causes a feeling that the image extends beyond the canvas, an idea I have been trying to work on in the studio. The more successful compositions have gone beyond the edge of the line I measured on the unstretched canvas and been cropped after when stretched. It leads to a generosity of the stroke not being inhibited by the edge of the support.

I get back to the studio and simplify some of my compositions. (see below fig 6)

fig 6
Sally Barron 2023
‘Parklife’ wip
oil on canvas
1650 x 1800mm
experimental digital editing of existing oil painting.

I have my own memories and associations with different landscapes that I realise I draw on when creating seemingly abstract pieces. I have also found that I return to painting very clear almost illustrative landscapes as a relief from the confusion of intuitive art, perhaps I am ‘giving myself permission’ to be spontaneous after I have laid out simple representations. see below fig 7

fig 7
Mountain and trees
Sally Barron 2023
A2
Oil on paper

The example below shows some of my sketches that feed into the larger paintings. fig 8& 9

Some of the paintings are showing over-laid details that are then obscured completely only to be retrieved later. fig 10

The last 3 paintings have been stretched and returned to studio where I will re-work one and glaze the others. It is good to see them in conjunction with each other and realise what needs to be attended to. see fig 11

footnotes

1. https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/whats-on/exhibitions/ever-present-first-peoples-art-of-australia

2. Persistence of vision is an optical illusion where the human eye perceives the continued presence of an image after it has disappeared from view. Also known as retinal persistence, this optical effect was described by English-Swiss physicist Peter Mark Roget in the nineteenth century.