#GlendaMarkwellArt

From a young age, I realised that I saw things differently than those around me.
The colours, the patterns, the shapes that I could see weren’t obvious to most of the people I talked to. I wasn’t concerned, I just learnt that this was not a topic for discussion with most people.

I was reminded of this on a recent holiday through the heart of  Australia. 

Where others saw repetitive countryside, I saw a multitude of colours textures and shapes. Each passing moment brought new vision to my eyes and to my mind. How could I paint or draw that?  How could I represent that view… and do it justice!

Look at the grass, the dirt, the trees, the sky! With colours shading from pale olive, gold green and lilacy silver grey. The shapes! Some tufts, some spindles, some creeping, some tall with rusty coloured spikes. Some bent away from the breeze, some defiant. 

The trees or scrub was hugely varied too. Tall and proud, knarled and hunched against the harsh climate, some bushy and strong.

The colours and textures of these amazing plants were interspersed with splashes of ochre red soil and sharp penetrating termite mounds.  What a glorious palette of colours, shapes and textures!

How inspiring! How exciting! How daunting!

I’ve yet to take up the challenge of painting these visions – but the memories are there… waiting for me to as brave as the harsh and beautiful landscape I experienced.