Art connects people from all walks of life and and last weekend I have experienced just that, right here in my backyard at the Byron Bay Roots and Blues Festival. This is my fourth Bluesfest and each time I am so grateful for having such an incredible event just a short stroll from my studio. The weather conditions added to the atmosphere, the overcast sky with its soft light illuminated the Marquee tent tops against the afternoon sky. The rain pelted down at times turning the earth into mud creating a sea of footprints, connecting everyone.

Some of the stand out acts this year include the phenomenal Zapper plays Zapper, awesome guitar by Dweezil Zapper. The singer/songwriter Ruthie Foster from Texas blew us away with her amazing soulful voice while Michael Franti and Seasick Steve worked the crowd into a frenzy! This sketch is about the funny scenes of the punters in their gumboots - there were pink ones, glittery ones, red ones, oversized ones, skull and crossbone ones, rubber duck ones, very muddy ones!! Thank God for the gumboot - they united us and kept us dry.

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Alchemy

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It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon house warming and birthday celebration in Byron Bay and many at the gathering who are normally busy in their day jobs, a natural health practitioner, high school maths teacher, concert sound and lighting manager and electrician all took time out to jam. There is so much more to an impromptu jam session, the realisation that the creative spirit in us all needs to be expressed and felt. The jam session added to the atmosphere of the afternoon, we were in a newly painted home with lovingly placed objects, bowls, candles and an old railway cabinet, beautifully restored with big windows of light pouring in creating the perfect ambiance.

An original Leunig etching hangs on the far wall a focal point amongst the guitars, mandolin and double bass. The framed etching in harmony with the mood and design of the room yet the image so incognito that you need to take a closer look to enjoy its humour and direct message.  is always interesting and often an inspired individual will improvise in the moment and surprise.

The music that I was witness to and for most part was totally improvised. The sketch is a about capturing a moment when my friends absorbed in their own world of music and yet connected as one, creating a profoundly unique artistic voice. The musicians in the drawing share their experiences of what it's like to jam together. For me jamming is always something to look forward to. It's such a pure moment of expression, collaboration, listening, and trusting (and challenging) my musical intuition. It's a time of experimenting and throwing caution to the wind, of being sensitive to what others are playing and knowing when to let loose. At its best, things lock in and the magic happens - it doesn't happen every time, but when it does the music takes on a form of it's own - it becomes more than the individual contributions.  Jamming is being totally in the present - nothing else exists. It's fleeting and totally in the moment. It's meditation. It's natural. It's real. I love jamming.

Geoff -  Mandolin

A few stand out things I remember from this day were... It was cold and wet - a good day to be inside making music with friends. An impromptu and unlikely collaboration between resonator blues guitar  and Native American flute. An original song getting some spontaneous backing vocals from "Jesus Christ Superstar" and the song-writer happily running with this  unforeseen addition. A glockenspiel solo over a blues jam. And lots of enjoyable and inclusive music making. Jamming for me is about having a musical conversation. It's about connecting with a positive, creative energy which this particular group  of people have in abundance.

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Mike Williams, an established Australian poet and writer spent some time with me at my art studio last summer. We shared ideas about creativity and  artistic cycles and how to keep the energy alive. Mike's a quietly spoken bloke who has an effortless writing style and the ability to tell a story drawn from a life of rich experiences. Mike commented that as he gets older his writing gets deeper and more enjoyable.

I have been reading some interesting research about the subject of creativity in  'Late Bloomers' and there seems to be two schools of thought. One thought is that artists tend to do their best work early on in their careers. Picasso's early work, paintings produced in his 20's, still demand the highest prices even today, whilst on the other hand, Cézanne reached his artistic excellence in his mid-sixties. I have been thinking about how my own creativity has manifested during my later years and how it has become a driving force in my life. I believe creativity is rooted in one’s own belief systems; the influence of society and family conditioning can delay or hide latent talent. So far the unfolding of my creative journey has been rooted in breaking old and limiting thinking.

To help me understand this process I have been reading an excellent book titled 'Old Masters and Young Geniuses; The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity' by David Galenson. The book offers the idea that there are two very different types of artist; a 'conceptualist', who has a very clear idea where they want to go and how they will execute the idea. The other is an 'experimentalist', the intuitive artist that allows a spark, an inspiration to reveal itself in the painting.

I think that as I get older and gain more experience as an artist, I will develop both set of skills which, I hope, will strengthen my work. Yet my very first paintings remain a reference point where the enthusiastic journey into the image is always a source to draw strength from.  I believe that those paintings came from an inner part of me unaffected by anyone or anything and they are very precious. return to home page

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