Act Four – The Dream (framed)

Oil painting on fine Belgian linen. Framed in an ornate bronze-coloured double-set frame.

Signed on the front and ready to hang. All artworks come with a Certificate of Authenticity.

138 x 82 x 9 cm

This other-worldly painting is based on a dream that delved deep into my mortality, my fear of death and loss juxtaposed against my joy of creation, continual self-discovery, eternal play and treating life as a game.

In this dream, I taught cabaret in the evenings, and I kept this red smile drawn across my face. Not as a sad clown as some might think, but rather as a reminder that I consciously create my own happiness.  

The animals in this portrait represent my childhood and younger self (the magpie), my present self and sense of time as ever precious and ever-fleeting (the rat) and eventual death (the raven). 

The magpie stands as my younger self. To me, it represents family, protection, playfulness, the land in which grew up, and also being black and white, the highly contrasted characteristics of each of my parents and their diverse backgrounds.

The rat in this painting was my beloved rat, Darwin, who was still alive at the time and posed for me on my shoulder while I shot an image for this painting. He became my littlest ever art model, I loved him dearly. 

The raven is death, but not how you might think. I lovingly rendered her to be beautiful, mysterious, perfect just as she is. She faces away from me as I look toward her, I am preoccupied with her existence but she is entirely indifferent to mine. Death cares not whether or not you fixate on her. 

The red of my lips from the dream spills out across the painting in the form of a red ribbon, connecting past, present and future. Red as the blood in my veins. 

- - -

Shipping is free within Australia. Find out more about shipping here.