What is the Point of an Artist Painting a Selfie

In my last exhibition, portraiture played an enormous role in the storytelling of my transition in to retirement as a grey nomad.

For the most part, I was chronicling a transition to telling the story of a small outback town, Cunnamulla, becoming my home.

Behind the scenes I was getting ready to transition to a retirement based on painting and travel writing. 

The first self-portrait Grey Nomad, begged the question, "Can I fit in here?" and the second Family Reflections captured the level of family support I needed to make the momentous change. 

So then, self-portraiture can be a form of journalling that records and assists with transition.

If you notice the reflections on the lens of these sunnies- you will see two of my nieces.

This painting captures a time when Dani took me climbing all the way to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Shannon joined me when painting the Opera House where she works as a manager, and of course, to Aida at the Opera House itself.

We also went  with my sister to Opera on the Harbour and saw the majestic but tragic Madam Butterfly. You can see a suggestion of the opera house, the bridge and the ferry that took us to an outing at the beach.

So you see that an lot can be said just by painting one picture. For example, you can pick up on the contrast of age - nuf sed!

 They place images such as this OPERA HOUSE AT NIGHT in context.

 Interestingly, 

as I sit here in St George. I can reflect on the plans I made at that time. I had intended to paint an oval portrait of both Dani and Shan to place beside the portrait at the exhibition. I never quite got there -but - I did manage to paint the painting featured below.

 It is called SHANON STEELE @ OPERA ON THE HARBOUR

If ever you wondered why artists paint self-portraits, you now know why. There are a wealth of information contained in the images that will reveal what was going on around the event of the exhibition.

This is the night we went to VIDA. 

The story above places images such as this OPERA HOUSE AT NIGHT in context.

I am soon to release a book called TeTe Trashes the School to Prison Pipeline.

In it a young prisoner, TeTe always asks himself, What more can I give? In this way, he hopes to become a better person and through a process of self examination, and of pondering life's complexities, escape the entrapment that often characterise prison life. 

The philosophy of Martha Nussbaum provides advice about this way of thinking.

She describes a condition called Transitional Anger.

When I wrote TeTe's book, I didn't know what transitional anger was. And I didn't know that transitional anger is meant to be supervened by something more pure. You will need to read the book on release if you want to know what this supervenience might be.

The journey TeTe is on is one of self reflection - but - his self portraiture takes the form of writing, recording and publishing RAP.

Do we think of writing and song penmanship as a form of portraiture? I do. I regaurd Nassbuam's book Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice as a self portrait too.

I had the good fortune of meeting up with Jane Prior for a pleasant Christmas chat and she told me about the background of her series Crystal Kingdom.  And yes - in a sense - her books are a self-portrait too.They capture her concern for the great mother earth, and simultaneously they capture the author's concern for children both now and in the future. Crystal Kingdom is a series meant to be read by carers (or older children) to a younger audience with the idea in mind of stimulating challenging conversations about the conservation of mother earth. The activities in the back of the books also stimulate thought and productive, healing action. In this sense Crystal Kingdom captures an image of Jane as a carer of the earth and of children.   Find out about the Crystal Kingdom Series here. 

Not only this, we gain insight into an old wiser muse. I asked her whether she would ever visit The Riverlights Festival in Cunnamulla, and indeed, I dared to ask her whether she would write a fantasy about our bountiful Warrego.

Tentatively, her answer was thoughtful. "I'll think about that!" she said. Maybe, I chipped in Cheesy and Dan might help you with background material.

Stayed tuned to this channel, you never know what might happen next.