By Amber Stokie
Following a short stay in hotel quarantine after a move from Victoria to South Australia, I was eager to explore my new surroundings and recorded daily both sonically and visually my response to what I discovered. This became a necessity for me, a morning ritual in order to return to the studio and feed into my artwork. The work utilises a vivid colour palette and memory montage gathered from exciting discoveries as I traversed and explored the stunning natural areas close to my new home. I focus on colour and landscape, in particular parks and other natural landmarks which I found inspiring. It’s a psychological response I have used as a catalyst to create more than a description of an actual scene in that the colour choices not only depict the colours that impacted upon me but also reflect my excitement about the new and unfamiliar. An exciting new journey. Inspiration comes from an emotional response; this was easy to obtain in this context and it became important to my work and research to seek it out. My intention is to inspire the viewer to reflect on their own experience of a new place whether a permanent change or simply a holiday and the eagerness to explore, to discover new and exciting things. The process of the unfamiliar becoming the familiar. How what we see is also a reflection of how we are feeling and of our current state of mind. This small selection of works is part of an ongoing exploration.
acrylic & oil on canvas
35x45cm framed