Quiet Time

Quiet Time

“Quiet Time” is a drawing in coloured pencils and Neocolor II wax pastels. 33.5 x 53.3 cm. April 2020.

In the Covid-19 time in which we are living, local cafés and restaurants are shut – except for takeaways.  In Fremantle (Western Australia) Matthew and I line up to buy coffees then take them to some isolated spot or other overlooking the port.

As we sit on canvas chairs facing sky and sea we talk or simply listen to water lapping, breezes and bird calls.  More often than not a seagull comes to check on whether we have some food to share.

I am describing a daily ritual during March/April 2020.  However my latest drawing is from when we visited Lido in March 2019.  What were we doing on Lido? … quietly regarding Venice from across the lagoon while being checked on by a seagull!

I’ve spent the last four weeks working on “Quiet Time“.  I could have responded to the ‘new normal’ by drawing something dark and ominous – suiting our collective pessimistic mood.  However I decided on an uplifting subject from which I could perhaps find comfort.  What could be more reassuring than sky, water and seagull?

At first while working on this piece I feel disconnected and unable to concentrate, just as I feel disconnected (in shock) to the dystopian daily news. I force myself to keep drawing.  (How does one get one’s head around a pandemic?)  In the end, the serenity of the subject reaches out to me.  The drawing and I eventually connect.

Even though the composition was sourced from 12 months ago in Northern Italy, it feels entirely relevant to a part of bubble life now, especially to that hour each day when, sitting before local waters with coffees, Matthew and I share our isolation quiet time.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

“An Italian Dream”  (from nearly the same position) was drawn in October 2019.