Paint Like an Emu

Elements of Joy - new abstract artwork

I was chatting to my friend Tiana of @tianaballaghart this morning. Tiana is a ceramic artist from Australia, so it’s evening there. I envy the golden glow of the setting sun on her face as I sit in the slate grey of a cold Irish dawn, waiting for the heating to come on. It’s a different world, but we’re the same age and have art in common, so there’s no end to the chat.

This morning I was asking her about her daily routine. She goes for a morning walk like me, but tends to wait until the sun is up in case she startles the animals. Wild animals? I ask, thinking crocodiles and snakes. No, more like kangaroo and emus. She tells me that emus startle easily. They do a little jump in fright, kicking their legs in the air like a Scottish dancer, then spin in circles before prancing off.

I nearly wet myself laughing.

Because that’s exactly where I’m at in my art practice. I got startled in December, started to spin in circles trying this and that, this material, that style, and now I’m deciding which direction to take off in now that the danger has passed. I have filled sketchbook after sketch book with my research. I have bought huge canvases, enormous boards, all manner of art materials from pastels to lino prints. I have primed and sanded. I have stencilled and stamped, rubbed and scratched. I am positively dizzy from the spin.

New abstract artwork currently in progress

I’d like to think your curiosity will overcome the confusion while I choose the path. I do believe there is a path. Just that the one before me right now is more like crazy paving. Oh, stuff it. As Tiana says, we may never feel ready. And we’re not getting any more beautiful sitting around.