Well, the past 6 months have been difficult, a blur and tremendously sad. My dear, funny, caring, story teller, patriotic Scotsman, playful, loving Dad…Bill (William McKenzie), passed away on the 5th February. I won’t go into the details here, as I don’t feel strong enough to talk about (or think about) it fully yet. I know I will write a piece on my blog about my loss later in the year but for the moment I am avoiding looking at his photo’s as I know it will unravel me. Also, after driving backwards and forwards throughout January and February, up to my parents house and the hospice, when I got home I found I was so far behind in my family life, household, as well as business and income…that I have had to hit the ground running and don’t have time to grieve fully.
I am aware that I need to grieve properly (whatever that looks like) at some stage this year. Of course there are moments when I am overwhelmed and bubble over but I quickly take hold of my thoughts and don’t dwell there. I don’t have time…and I’m not ready to.
My mum and I plan to honour my dad’s wishes by taking his ashes back home to Edinburgh later this year. I think leading up to that time, will be when I let myself process it more. In the meantime, I have so much to do. Plus I have to earn some arty dollars to pay for my trip to the UK.
SO…whilst there still hasn’t been a prolific amount of paintings being produced since my last newsletter, there has been a lot happening. I have produced a couple of works for a group exhibition at a local winery (I will share about that in a future Newsletter). One Frida painting pre sold prior to the Exhibition, however one is still available at the moment. I’ve also been working on a commissioned painting for a gorgeous collector, as well as discussing something that is in the pipeline in a few months which I will be able to share with you soon! Anyway, have a little read, reach out to say hi or ask anything and I will endeavour to be in touch a bit more. You can’t accuse me of crowding your inboxes ! 🙂
To all of you who have or are experiencing grief, I take my hat off to you and commend you on your courage to feel the depths of your loss and continue functioning and keeping a brave face out in the world…it is no easy task. Sending you much love and wishing that my art can uplift and soothe like a peaceful balm…as it does for me as I am creating it and communing with it also.
xx Tanya
‘My Decoupaged Heart’ was painted when I first got home after my beautiful dad’s funeral. I painted it just for me. Not so as to go fully into my grief in an actively expressive way (whilst crying and emoting), .(although I think this would be extremely healthy and helpful for me to do at a later stage); but more as a way to discharge the trauma of what we went through (mum and I and my eldest son Traegis) in dad’s last days…as well as the viewing of dad in his coffin at his funeral. I needed a place to rest my brush whilst purging myself of the experiences, sights and energy I witnessed & absorbed during that time. I will talk more about this in a future blog post. Anyway, this piece will remain in my private collection. A dear collector proffered up the title of the piece in her beautiful communications and words of comfort to me on messenger. I will likely talk more about this piece, in detail in that later blog post too. Print reproductions are available on request x
This was one of the pieces I created for a group exhibition (I will share more about the exhibition in a future email). It pre sold before it was hung and was very popular, with three other collectors making inquiries on it. As one collector put it, given you can’t see Frida’s eyes through a direct gaze in this painting, she says so much in her bodily expression with the placement of her face on her hand. I plan to do more figurative portrait paintings down the track.
This piece below was sold in December at the wonderful Mr Barval’s Winery in Margaret River via a group exhibition curated by the dynamic and gorgeous Mel who owns Margaret River Artisan Store.
‘See Me’ sold to a lovely couple visiting from Canada. They have since been in touch sharing their joy, their visitors joy and particularly, their granddaughters joy…who were particularly captivated by Ms ‘See Me’s compelling eyes. The photo on the right was kindly sent by my collectors in Canada, after having the piece framed and hung over their mantlepiece. Doesn’t it look absolutely striking there!? I am so deeply appreciative of the beautiful conversations and connections I have the privilege to experience with my collectors. It is something that was completely unexpected when I first started painting but it is the part of my work that I love and value the most x
Get in touch for details on this piece if it speaks to you. It should be finished soon.
ORIGINALS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ~
A lot of my work has sold and I am finding I can’t keep up with the demand (which is a lovely problem to have) and is largely due my teaching and counselling contracts/commitments with clients and not having enough painting time in the studio. I hope to rectify this soon, as I have so many ideas welling up!
* Get in touch for details if interested in either of these two pieces.
I haven’t had a chance to update prints over on my website as yet, however most of my Originals can be arranged as Print Reproductions. I will send out another email in the coming weeks once all the prints are listed on the website, but in the meantime, feel free to email me back or touch base over on my Facebook page re any work you would like as a print.
These have been popular over on Facebook and I have been putting a few Print orders through for my Facebook & Instagram followers & collectors.
Tribute to Gustav Klimt paintings:
‘Heart Full of Love’ (left) & ‘The Secret Kiss’ (right) (both Originals have sold) are now available as Archival Limited Edition Giclee Prints
** You can view other currently available prints here
That’s it for now. Sorry it is a bit lengthy. Do get in touch if you feel inspired to do so. I love hearing from you. Take care. I will be in touch again soon…
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