Celestial Forest

Celestial Forest

“Celestial Forest” coloured pencils 26 x 26 cm.

“Celestial Forest” looks like swatches of colour up close (including if you are sitting in front of your computer screen). From a small distance it morphs into a forest with descending sun behind. (Try walking away from your screen and you’ll see what I mean.)

How did this drawing come to be? I was in the forest at Donnelly River Village in the late afternoon photographing a pair of scarlet robins. I couldn’t help but notice the light effects as the sun dropped in the western sky. It had been raining earlier. Wet leaves glistened in the light breeze. It was – spiritual.

“Hmm”, I thought, “How can I capture this?” I deliberately put my lens out-of-focus and pointed my camera straight at the sun. Then I turned attention back to the scarlet robins. When I got home I knew I had to make a drawing from the forest-y abstraction I’d captured.

“Celestial Forest” is similar to my impressionist Parisian drawings. In the Paris drawings the relationships are between street lights, neon and architecture. In “Celestial Forest” the interplay is between sun and wet trees.

“Melting Memory” (2021) impressionistic Paris – on the same wavelength as “Celestial Forest”

I drew four drawings for The 2022 Donnelly Verandah Residencies exhibition which opens on Friday 19 August at EARLYWORK, Cnr Wardie St & South Tce, South Fremantle.

They are…

“Celestial Forest” coloured pencils 26 x 26 cm. Sold.

“Forest and Bird” Neocolor II and coloured pencils. 26 x 26 cm. Sold.

“Wow Factor” coloured pencils, 18.5 x 18.5 cm. Sold.

“Verandah Resident” 16.5 x 16.5 cm.

What will my five fellow artists exhibit? I am excited to find out – in one week’s time.

If you are a local do come in and have a look. Opening 6-8 p.m Friday 19th August and then every day 10-4 to Sunday 28 August in SOUTH FREMANTLE.

POSTSCRIPT: 28 August 2022. The exhibition closed at 4 p.m. It was such a joy to participate in this group show. I met many people who visited the gallery; some old friends and some for the first time. Several drawings and prints have gone to new homes. I am tired out but so happy.

A Late Night Conversation

A Late Night Conversation

For several days I have been “in training”. “Each night I stayed up as late as I could and each morning attempted to sleep in. My goal was to adjust my body-clock so that I wouldn’t only be awake until midnight on Wednesday 6th April but also lucid, lively and with a reasonable vocabulary at my disposal.

I had been invited by Ann Kullberg to be her guest on a webcast LIVE from America. West Australian time is 15 hours ahead of U.S. Pacific time. Ouch – hence my “in training” sessions!

Everything worked out perfectly. I had a great time in conversation with Ann and midnight came around as rapidly as it surely had for Cinderalla on another night long ago.

While people tuned in from various parts of America to see the webcast live, in my region you were all in bed fast asleep. Now that you are up and about – here it is.

While some of my artworks are seen on the webcast you can see hundreds of them on my website – from the 1970s to now. https://juliepodstolski.com

Melting Memory

Melting Memory

“Melting Memory” 30 x 20 cm. Neocolor II and coloured pencils. October 2021

After drawing “Last Night I Dreamed of Kyoto” I am still traveling but this time revisiting Paris. “Melting Memory” goes further into a dream-scape than the Kyoto drawing and deeper towards abstraction though it is still clearly a nocturnal street scene.

I am able to delve back to the actual evening by looking inside my journal. Tuesday 18 October 2016: – “I went out in the early evening – back to rue Saint Denis. I could see black clouds coming and sure enough it poured. I was stuck for quite a while under an awning wondering how I’d get home. But – WET STREETS! As I neared home the rain stopped so I kept going. I walked down to Saint Paul. I took lots of photos of lights and wet reflective streets. I’m in bed now, worn out. I haven’t eaten anything today except baguette, cheese, jam, tomatoes, cereal, apples and berries…and a pastry.”

Below is “Last Night I Dreamed of Kyoto“, the drawing which walked my memory and I further back in time to a Parisian rainy reminiscence.

“Last Night I Dreamed of Kyoto” October 2021

The Artist’s Way

The Artist’s Way

“The Artist’s Way”    Coloured pencils    October 2018

The artist’s way is a journey where sometimes one feels certain about the path ahead only to become thoroughly lost at the next turn.

When I visited rue Quincampoix that night in October 2016 I was in familiar territory and was delighted to see it illuminated so vibrantly.  I took photos and walked in a happy daze.  Continuing home (so I thought) I turned up one street, thinking it was another, and led myself into an unfamiliar area.  Alone.  At night.  Lost in Paris.  After some hasty and intimate time spent with my map, I righted my wrong and got home.

Similarly I went into my most recent exhibition full of certainty.  But over the two weeks in the public gaze I lost my bearings.  Certainty dissolved into a state of trepidation as I experienced the full spectrum of reactions; from praise, through indifference to actual hostility.  (Only one person was truly hostile.)

To be lost, found, and lost again in an endless cycle throughout a life, questioning one’s art and one’s very existence, is the artist’s way.

In the end the thing that you feel is your undoing is also your way back to sanity – art.

Another drawing from the same photo-shoot is “Guiding Lights”, drawn in 2016.

The drawing below shows the way I drew this street back in 2012.

“Conversations at Dusk” 2012

 

 

 

 

 

Café des Arts

Café des Arts

Café des Arts    coloured pencils      35 x 32 cm

“Café des Arts” is a true story.

I saw these two couples (one painted and one real) at the Café des Arts, 3 place de la Contrescarpe, near Panthéon.  I had to surreptitiously acquire my source photo by pretending to focus somewhere else and then quickly swing my lens to the desired spot.

I wonder if the absinthe drinkers in the painting “Dans un Café” were aware of being watched back in 1875?  (The painting by Edgar Degas hangs in the Musée d’Orsay.)  My human couple remained oblivious to me.

Artists have to break rules in the quest for a good visual story whether the year is 1875 or 2018. Life imitates art.  Art imitates life.  And sometimes they both end up in the same picture.

Here is the source photo for “Café des Arts”.  If you look closely, you’ll see that I made a few simplifications by reducing details.

 

 

 

Boulevard

Boulevard

“Boulevard”  19.5 x 25.5 cm.  Coloured pencils on Arches Aquarelle smooth.

Bright lights and shadowy figures marching across the boulevard merge to create a lively kaleidoscope at Place Blanche.  This is the final drawing (I mean it this time) for the “Remember Paris” exhibition opening in five weeks’ time.

To view the catalogue of 30 drawings for the exhibition, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urbane Saint Germain

Urbane Saint Germain

“Urbane Saint Germain”  Coloured pencils, 208 x 240 mm.  July 2018

A small piece of Saint Germain des Prés I have photographed and drawn many times is a corner where rue de l’Echaudé splits off from rue de Seine.

For this piece I have to wait patiently for a person to walk into my frame.  Who is it?  It could be male or female (perhaps it is you) though I sense my subject has a European air – as urbane as the surroundings.    Having drawn the streets so many times in great detail, this time I seek only an impression.

Below are more drawings of this immediate area, drawn at intervals over several years.

“The Liberation of Art” drawn in April, this will also be in the “Remember Paris” exhibition in September 2018.

“Rhapsody in Blue” 2014

“de bonne heure” 2012

“Rue de l’Échaudé” 2014

Quiet 2013

“Paris en hiver” 2011

“Urbane Saint Germain” is the final drawing for the “Remember Paris” exhibition this coming September.  To view the catalogue of 30 drawings, their descriptions and prices, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

Overcast

Overcast

“Overcast”
Coloured pencils. 210 x 288 mm. June 2018

On my way home from a before-dawn photography walk, I stop on Pont de la Tournelle and look east.  Morning light reveals an overcast autumnal sky.

Some of us primarily enjoy a view under sun and blue sky; cloudiness may be described as “a dull day”.  To my mind an overcast sky creates a meditative and subtle beauty.  Eyes need not squint against strong light.

Grey day, reflection and introspection; peace.

“Overcast” is the second drawing featuring Notre Dame for the “Remember Paris” exhibition.  I like to portray a subject in different ways…

“Far from the Madding Crowd” drawn with Sennelier oil pastels combined with coloured pencils on Arches Aquarelle. 330 x 365 mm.  October 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

A Small Act of Love

A Small Act of Love

“A Small Act of Love”
212 x 308 mm
coloured pencils and oil pastels. June 2018

“A Small Act of Love” is the second drawing I have made from a single source photo.  When the first drawing “Just a Moment” sold last year I was both happy and sad; happy as it is always a pleasure when a drawing sells; sad because it was destined to be a part of my “Remember Paris” collection – to be shown in September 2018.

“Just a Moment”
Coloured pencils, drawn January 2017.

Recently as I was reviewing the “Remember Paris” drawing collection so far, I once again mourned the loss of “Just a Moment”.   However I saw the possibility of a second chance as I had cropped the composition the first time.  This time I would draw from the entire photo – making a whole new composition.  And I would use oil pastels as well as coloured pencils.  (You can compare the two pieces – above and below – here.)

“A Small Act of Love”  June 2018
coloured pencils and oil pastels.

The thing is, I want my exhibition of drawings to be more than merely sumptuous views of Paris.  My aim is to show a wide range of her personality traits.  The essential ingredient of this piece is intimacy – an everyday moment of a mother assisting her child.

Last weekend I visited one of Australia’s major art galleries.  I felt like I was in a void while I viewed the traditional and modern grandiose works.  What was my place in art?  Did I have one?  Back home again, finishing off this drawing gave me a sense of perspective.  Perhaps this is my place in art; what I do day after day is a small act of love.

Note:  The drawing is made to be seen from across a room so it is a good idea to stand back a few paces from the top image…and then it makes sense.

Non, je ne regrette rien

Non, je ne regrette rien

happy with undercoat beginning…

This morning I photographed my first layer of a big drawing (380 x 505 mm) after a week of laying on the under-colour in Sennelier oil pastels.

A couple of hours later…  Uh oh – I’m not feeling the love.

Scuttled.

And…that’s it.  No regrets.

A few hours later:  In hindsight, every work which is labour intensive needs to be believed in.  It is a huge effort but it will be worth it.  In this case, I didn’t have quite enough belief (or enthusiasm) in the piece for all the effort I knew I was going to have to put into it.  That’s probably the primary reason I let it go.

PS:  Another reason for dumping the picture above was that it was too similar to “Rhapsody in Gold” drawn in 2017.

“Rhapsody in Gold”
August 2017