Intuition Over Conscious Reasoning

   I have needed to think about my "way" of painting. What it is that I am expressing through my artwork, as I will be interviewed in a few weeks time by a local gallery director for an upcoming exhibition. I need to choose 3-4 paintings for the exhibition. Work that represents my style as an artist. These will be photographed for the brochure and then the paintings will be installed in the gallery. I hate these interviews and artists statements, but they force me to get a little more clarity each time and a greater sense of direction...I guess?               

So, what am I about? 

What are my paintings about? 

What is the process I use and why?

    I didn't go to university to study art. I am self-taught, apart from the one year at TAFE to study shop window dressing and numerous art classes. Some years ago I was in a crisis. I fell into such a deep depression and could not find my way out. It lasted for months and the months ran into years. I did not know what to do and whatever it was I was meant to do, no one could do it for me. Suicidal thoughts were my only refuge from that insidious time of depression.

Intuitive Art by J Pfeiffer

 Eventually I came to understand that for me, access to the arts and creativity were an intrinsic part of my mental health and quality of life. So I pursued the creative life with all my being, because my life literally depended on it. I know now, that this is what I was meant to be doing all along, but somehow it got lost as I was playing out other roles in my life ....I learned the hard way...more difficult than any university course.

Intuitive Art by J Pfeiffer

Naturally my artwork has been quite varied as I've explored the world of painting. One of the key factors  I really love is freedom. Freedom to have a clean start on the canvas. Freedom to loosely, lay down paint and paper and sand and glue or whatever, in an arbitrary way to begin with, and then build up the textures and paint one layer at a time, without a plan, not knowing where I will end up. I like stepping into the unknown. This is both exhilarating and terrifying. I am relying totally on my past experience and my intuition is guiding me all the way. The process is an adventurous journey for me as I constantly have to make decisions about what step I will take next and how. Mistakes are reworked into something pleasing, there are unexpected surprises and out of nothing, something is eventually created. 

The art materials are not my slaves but my team mates and they often lead the way as we work together through this creative process. In choosing colour, I usually work with the three or four harmonious colours that are side by side or analogous to each other on the colour wheel and then throw in a complementary colour to add some spark.

 

I am drawing on the vast collection of thoughts, feelings observations and images that are daily filed away in my conscious and subconscious mind. It seems quite natural to me that "The Creator" is as much a part of this process as my breathing. I open myself to the Divine in my daily living, in the hope that my ego, which endlessly lets me down, will take a back seat. I like to think this too is reflected in my artwork. I've noticed re-occuring themes in my work like circles and squares or windows, which I think depict the way nature juxtaposes the manufactured or man-made. The circles represent nature and the squares represent that which is man-made. I love texture and shape - colour - line - I would have a blank canvas without these elements.

 Favourite artists: David Nimmer, Mary Todd Beam and Trevor Jones.