At the of age 12, when attending my first 'middle school' art class, I had one of those pivotal experiences that shift the direction of our life's path. I rediscovered the unending beauty and power of the line, and had my first experience of drawing the figure when a class mate volunteered to stand up on her table and model for us. That I could play with that line, control the expression of its intensity, that it could provide a narrative, that it was so extraordinarily simple and yet so complex was quite literally mind-blowing. Using those delicious lines to represent the human form was the beginning of a joy and fascination that stays with me still. Add the complexity and power and beauty of colour to that of humanity and it's no surprise to see me here at 43 still playing and learning and struggling and reveling.
Portraiture for me is about capturing something essential about the subject and their world, not simply to capture a likeness. I would like to think that someone looking at a portrait of an unknown sitter will be drawn to look, and look again as they glean something of the emotion, the mood, the thoughts, the character of the subject and that experience will stay with them, will perhaps touch something of themselves that they recognize.
For me, art is very much about the dialog and relationship between the subject and artist and the piece of work and the viewer. It means that something has been communicated, that something has been felt.
What a privilege.
To quote Brett Whiteley,
'An thus begins the life of difficult pleasure'
Danielle Pirrie
Bega, NSW Australia