Thought I would share a story of how life guides us and leads us in the direction of our hearts desires, even if we don’t know it at that moment in time….
Years ago I came across an old dusty, run-down Art book in a second hand store. For the price of $2 I took it home with me. Surveying each page I came across a painting by Roland Wakelin from 1944, Richmond Tasmania. I can’t explain why, however I was hypnotized by the image. I found the construction and composition captivating; the old bridge, the young trees, an old building….looking at that painting various story lines were circling in my mind………I’d often revisit this image each time I found something new………For the most part I was in total ignorance that this could even be a real place.
To view Roland's painting click on the link;
ROLAND WAKELIN 1944 PAINTING, RICHMOND TASMANIA
In 2010, we decided to take a trip around Tasmania (Australia), no particular plan. Start at one end of the Island and finish at another end.
In reaching Hobart, decided to head in the direction of a good patisserie with a good reputation. It was then that the painting that I had loved so much suddenly came to life!
At the café people were telling the story of the oldest working bridge and the Mill House…My intuition said, “that might be something good to see”…. And as we walked through town approaching the bridge I remember all these feelings and emotions waking up with me…….It was like I was standing in Roland Wakelin’s painting! The only difference was that now the small trees from 1944 were all grown up, they were now the protectors of the bridge, they were the guardians of the Mill House.
It was at that point that I became obsessed about creating artworks that one day, someone would come along my landscape and experience the same thing. What I loved in that moment was the idea of preserving and protecting, creating a memory for someone even if they could experience it 60 years later……
To view my landscape painting of Richmond, click on the link below;
MIRJANA PSAKIS, 2010 RICHMOND TASMANIA PAINTING
In that moment I learned that paintings are powerful and hold a story (for those that are willing to read the paint)! More importantly they connect us to places and people, circumstances and events and even if we aren’t able to physically be in that location they provide us with a window, just like Roland did in 1944 when his story of Richmond had began….
As I stood on that bridge, I started asking the question about who lived in the Mill House in 1824, Who lives in the Mill House now? Are they connected through a parallel Universe, unknowingly?
Do the trees talk to one another about the people that have come and gone and how many variety of people have the trees experienced walking across the bridge?
In fact for me, seeing the trees as small tiny children in Wakelin’s painting to what I painted, became an obsession where I wanted to tell the story of how they were all grown up and that the Mill House was still a living breathing presence with many more stories ready to be unveiled.
Don't you just want to walk over the bridge and stand in front of the Mill House?
Until next time......