Artist’s Statement by Noeleen Healey
I take the realities of nature and work with the fantasies of my imagination.
The river is like a sensuous living animal, winding through and over flats that are forever changing, with colour and texture, buttercup, dandelion, dock and pennyroyal. Flax, cabbage trees, rushes, gum, toitoi and mature macracapa, give a visual beauty. Clouds, sun, moon, stars, mist, rain and wind adding mystery.
Full to over flowing or empty – smooth shinny banks, young mangroves invading.
The river rules my life, I love it.
Both sides of my brain are accountable when I go to draw, both sides argue with each other as to which side is going to make the mark.
I draw, print and paint for 6 years
I need a large meal
I am hungry
I’m emotionally exhausted
In memory of Yvonne Rust, who constantly sits on my shoulder – “These are only trials, they are not precious articles to get precious about”.
One moment in the life of the world is going by.
Paint as if it is….
Intensity of seeing for the last time is greater than seeing for the first time. – Cézanne
My friend Rena Bycroft died suddenly on the 19th December 1997 in her 57th year.
A reminder of how fragile life is.
I had started some studies of her.
Her death increased the intensity of my drawings.
Standing by her grave I saw and drew her shape reflected in the water below.
Her spirit, her beautiful colour and her vibrant energy is everywhere.
Noeleen Healey (Lane)
