S a r a h B e l l V I S U A L A R T I S T
m o r n i n g t o n p e n i n s u l a v i c t o r i a / b o o n w u r r u n g c o u n t r y
info@sarah-bell-artist.com
I hereby acknowledge that I work on what always was and always will be the land of the Boon wurrung/Bunurong people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, as well as to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the wider community and beyond. Indigenous sovereignty has never been ceded.
This collection of works is based on a field trip to Yuin and Gundungurra lands on the eastern seaboard. The element of water in its various forms, is an ongoing theme in my work. It appears this time as rising fog at dawn, small, secluded grottos or vast, wild and dramatic waterfalls. 'Rêverie', derived from a Middle French word meaning ‘wild speech, delirium’, from rever ‘to roam’, is a related word for 'to daydream’. Landscape, as a genre, serves me as a vehicle to express a connection between the kinaesthetic, sensuous act of painting and 'being' in wild landscapes, drawing on the traditions of Western painting in my artistic process. While my subject is the landscape, and painting the vehicle of expression, my work is underpinned by my poetic, geographic, climatic, cultural and historical understanding of place. Driving through this landscape, I began to feel an inexplicable nostalgia. It was only later, after creating these works, that I remembered an unchaperoned childhood walk in Ku-ring-gai bushland to Middle Harbour. My imaginative sister, absorbed in her stories, led the way. Each pool and landmark was given a name, making the experience feel like a dream. Familial history of place seems to draw me to these particular landscapes. My practice involves gathering imagery to record the landscape en plein air in watercolours and gouache, later developing more complex paintings on canvas in the studio. During a time of ‘sitting’ in the landscape natural events can happen, weather and light changes, and animal and bird life can reveal itself. For me, recording landscape is a way to bear witness to the Earth.
Image credits: Bri Horne
Tender Waters is a collection of paintings made over time and in quiet observation of pristine waterways around my home on the Mornington Peninsula, Boon Wurrung and Bunurong lands, and extending to the east coast of Australia. Throughout my artistic practice, life-giving water has been a recurring theme, offering an archetypal feminine expression of the landscape. The places in these landscapes reflect personal histories, and where I sit in deep listening and observation of bird and animal movements; a kind of rewilding of the self. These living elements weave themselves into the artwork, either as symbolic motifs or integral narrative threads. In doing so, I seek to underline the profound interdependence between creatures and landscapes and the ongoing impact of colonisation of the land and climatic events. Still, an element of playfulness infuses the creation of these artworks, evident in whimsical details, such as the placement of stars or flowers within my compositions. Working from observation, plein air and memory through chalk drawings and oil studies, I build the surface in gradual layers, feeling into a ‘slow painting’ process using a limited palette. Tapping into the kinaesthetic process of painting, I still both myself and my focus to embody the landscape’s space and light as it unfolds in the painting. The work is largely seeking to capture the atmosphere, light, shape and forms affected by the weather and seasons through the sensuous act of painting.I want to provoke the viewer to dream and imagine, or be transported via the senses, into gentle feeling states. The subject matter in Tender waters includes the juxtaposition of pristine rivers marred by weeds post-Black Summer fires, ephemeral ponds flourishing with marsh flowers and damselflies following the La Niña rains, and the graceful, yet peculiar presence of Black Swans floating beyond the shoreline on Warn’Marrin. The paintings in this exhibition delve into the subtle interplay of light, atmosphere, and the ever-shifting climatic forces that leave their mark on the landscape. Ultimately, my art is a reflection of my curiosity and reverence for the natural world and its interconnectedness, inviting viewers to contemplate their own relationship with the environment.
