Author Archives: sallyparnisartist

In February I was lucky enough to make the official portrait of the indomitable Dr Jeanette Linn for the South Australian branch of the Australian Medical Association.

Jeanette at eighty has a sharp intellect and cheeky wit, so the twelve or so sessions spent with her in my studio making this portrait were utterly delightful. I made a wonderful friend and was inspired by her contribution  to the community and her achievements.

I am grateful to the AMA for commissioning this portrait, and to Jeanette for her willingness (actually insistence) to make the work entirely from life.

If you happen to be visiting the board room at the AMA in Adelaide – check it out!

“To tell a constant story” will be installed on Thursday, 3rd February. This exhibition of 10 paintings and an ever-expanding cohort of drawings can be found in “Gallery A” on the ground floor of the Good Friday building, The Women’s and Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide (enter from Kermode street). The exhibition runs until the 30th April, with a launch function on the 16th February. During the exhibition time I have been invited to wander the public spaces of the hospital and make drawings, which will be added to the installation as they are completed.

Drawings from my daily drawing project “Message in a bottle” will be installed as part of this exhibition. You can be part of “Message in a bottle” by clicking on the link at right, under “Daily Devotion”. If it makes you curious, subscribe by scrolling to “Email subscription” at the bottom of the page and signing up. A drawing will arrive for you by email every day, no strings attached.

I hope you can make it to the exhibition at least once!

My exhibition is due to open at Gallery A, The Women’s and Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide on 2nd February.

There will be a number of paintings as well as an installation of some of the drawings from “Message in a bottle”  (see column at right)

This series is part of my own struggle to become part of the constant story of painting. For this body of work, I have taken my practice back to a personal exploration of materials. The palette is limited to three earth colours and white. Many of the supports I have prepared from scratch, starting with raw linen and rabbit skin glue. There is a simple compositional concept, generally a single figure flanked by pared back architectural elements around the golden mean.  The result is a series of quiet and harmonious works.

Aside from the formal and material story, the paintings are linked by a narrative theme. The subjects of the paintings are contemporary children, loosely linked to a fairy-tale by the addition of a symbolic object.

Fairy tales, myths and legends, like painting, are evidence of the constant story of humanity. Timelessness in what seems like a rapidly changing and unstable world. They are simple tales often told to children, yet also edgy and dark, with sometimes complex and perplexing meanings, where resolution occurs through magical intervention.

In my paintings, children on the edge of puberty ponder their future from their mythical childhood. The mood of the paintings is quiet and calm, a point of stillness where, as if by magic, time is detached from its linear progression.

I hope to present an exhibition of paintings that enhance and sit well in the physical and psychological environment of the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Their narrative theme is one with which children can identify.

They are quiet and contemplative, fostering a sense of calm. They are serious in intent, with metaphorical content that goes beyond their simple narrative. My intention is to  present serious aesthetic activity in the hospital environment which may honour and affirm the clients, staff and visitors for whom the work is intended.

Last time I posted I promised details of the “Goodine’s Bistro” exhibition – well, sadly, Goodine’s has closed and so the paintings made for the space cannot be shown there after all! I have included a couple of images here.

The work continues however, and I am going to make use of this new opportunity to expand and develop the theme.

In the meantime I have had a stint as the “Artist in Residence” at St Peter’s boy’s college in Adelaide. This has been a wonderful opportunity to work with the boys on two different projects. One has been a drawing project based on my “moving” drawings which I have worked on with several classes of year nine and ten boys. We have explored some ways of dealing with drawing a moving figure (using the teachers as models!), and then gone on to discuss and explore the non-representative qualities in drawing. I have learnt so much about my own process through implementing this project, and the boys have been very responsive, and patient with me as well.

We have also worked on a lunch time collaborative project – a large double canvas where we have worked with motifs referencing the college (keys, college buildings and the colour blue) and using drawing, stencilling, collaging and layered paint have built the work based on a stolen compositional idea from Rene Magritte!

Here are some drawings I have done whilst working with some of the year twelve boys on drawings for their portfolios. I hope I can post some images of work  done by the boys later.

Work continues on the paintings destined for the walls of “Goodine’s Bistro”. These works are designed to sit happily in the bistro, both formally and thematically. However, each one works alone and elsewhere, too! The installation of nine paintings will be opening in late August for three months. Works will be for sale.

The images you see here are details only – to see the whole thing you will have to come to Goodine’s. Whilst there why not enjoy a wonderful coffee, pizza or meal? I will post details of the exhibition in mid July.