“THE JOURNEY”

They say life is a journey.
Some say art is also a journey.
I say art is a journey, within the journey of life.

Caroline Zilinsky entered the first Norvill Art Prize in 2000 with a painting she called “Paradise Park”. It was 4 ft by 4ft, oil on canvas, no frame. It depicted, apart from some of the rocks so well known to the surrounding hills, a winding narrow tarred road and a few tiny houses that left nothing to guess but that it was the little town of Murrurundi.

I took one look at it and, although I didn’t know it at the time, I was off on a journey of my own.

They said Caroline was only 22 years old. I had not met her and indeed was destined not to for another two years, nor did we have any other kind of personal contact, direct or indirect, which with hindsight has proved to be a good thing, but thats another story.

Another painting that was entered that year by a Quirindi artist that also grabbed me was of a rocky gorge and waterfalls, semi abstract. It was magnificently and expensively framed. I bought it and some years later gave it back to the Norvill Art Prize committee as part of our collection.

It never entered my head that I should also purchase Caroline’s painting, and even today, were it for sale, I still probably would not have any wish to purchase it.

Something much more was happening here.

Almost immediately I started to paint my own interpretation of Caroline’s Murrurundi. I used oils and similar colours, which were basically yellows. While Caroline’s was an aerial view, mine was ground level.

I had everything down, and only to paint in the houses. But that was it. I never finished the work. Already I was moving on at a furious pace. Already I knew the next step.

I grabbed another board and the ‘landscape’ artist mind shut down allowing the ‘surrealist’ mind to emerge. OK, it’s a combination of both.
This time I used gloss enamel oil house paints (not for any special reason but rather because I was wanting to try them).
I brought in headstones to represent the cemetery, the Roman Catholic church, railway station and telephone lines. Yes, the houses of the town did get finished this time.

The next leap of the painting, a larger board 3ft by 4ft, and this time the main street of the town was left out. The focus was the church (in Polding Street), headstones, railway and phone lines.

The railway line and road run off into the distance over the Great Dividing Range.
Last of all a woman in a long, dark red dress was added walking along the road in front of the church and a man on the railway platform. The man is looking toward the woman.

I wasn’t sure what they represented but somehow I knew they were important.

The colours were now much darker than the initial yellows.
It remained untitled at this point.

No further works of this type were done for a long time. But I knew one day I would return to it. I liked it too much not to return to it.

A visiting art critic and teacher looked at this last work, and others, saying, “That is the best thing you have ever painted!” I was flattered and shocked. I never consider myself an artist. I’m too much an uneducated amateur.

This painting was never far from me. I saw it in passing every day. One day the name “The Journey” popped into the head.

Two years had passed and Caroline Zilinsky won the second Norvill Art Prize. She was over the moon. She even lost the $10,000 cheque the night of the presentation!
I invited her to visit “Rock Dhu” to paint and this she did shortly thereafter.

The two of us spent a lot of time together in that month. We walked, talked and rode the mountains on my motorbike. We lay on our backs in the long grass beneath the brilliant blue sky.  We painted side by side.

It was time to return to work on “The Journey”.

When I did recommence “The Journey” again, it was in acrylic and increased in size to 6 ft by 4 ft. The headstones became one headstone, and the woman was brought back to be appearing to hide behind it. She watches as a funeral procession emerges from the church and proceeds toward her. The man remained on the railway station platform but he had become less dominating or sinister looking and when, before, he looked toward the woman, he later looked up the railway line, seemingly not to even be aware of the woman or funeral procession being played out just across the track.

The final one to date was the same size but in pastels, charcoal and graphite. The only significant change was the addition of a young girl accompanying the woman behind the headstone.
Hundreds of works have been submitted to the Norvill Art Prize and I have seen thousands of other works over the years. But none have had such powerful influence in my own direction than did Caroline’s.

I wondered why. I have no doubt it comes from within the depths of our similar thinking minds, but I can’t even start to try to explain it.

Caroline’s painting had taken me on a fantastic journey of my own. And I’m not sure it is over yet. Maybe that journey will recommence once again some day.

PHN August 2005

WINDOW TO THE STARS

An explanation

‘Window To The Stars’ By Peter Norvill. 
First painting done in 1999.   Around 120 now done to end of 2007.

Beauty, wonder ... imagination.
In search of those answers.

I guess, in life, we are all searching ... searching for something ...  searching for many things.  Some are searching for just simply, ‘anything’.

The idea behind the painting, ‘Window To The Stars’ came simply from the depths of my mind.  It was undoubtedly influenced by my own bedroom window, which is upstairs, facing the North - a window through which I can see the stars every clear night. 

There is something absolutely magical about the night sky when all around has quietened and most are sound asleep.

To seemingly be the only person still awake at that hour - an hour when all ones daytime problems have been left far behind - and, almost as a reward for the efforts put in during the day that is now gone, we may be privileged to a most wondrous view.

Nothing moves.  It is as if the whole Universe has come to a standstill ...  seemingly hanging, motionless.

So peaceful.

The first ‘window’ painting consisted of the window, the bare room itself, including rough timber floor, walls and ceiling. Shortly after I added the light hanging from the ceiling and picture hanging on the right side wall.
The work measured about 8 in by 4 in.

It was many months later that the concept of adding the bed and a man sleeping in it occurred to me. A chair on the opposite side of the room balances things.  And a book to signify our search for knowledge.

Later, a girl is substituted instead of the man, and sometimes a cat has been added, to pose a further question.

Most paintings show a single bed, implying the person sleeps alone. This adds to the feeling of peace as there is no added distraction of demands of a partner.  It allows one to leave behind the ‘physical’ and concentrate on the ‘intellectual’.  Although, we must remember, to find answers, we need the best of all worlds and this means we must bring with us the past world of the ‘physical’.

To really be able to feel this it is essential that one has known what it is like to be ‘together’ as well as, ‘alone’.

I experimented in changes to the shape of the window frame itself but never found anything that even remotely equalled what I already had.  In other words, the window shape was perfect from the start.

Summing up: Beauty and wonder of the night sky ... searching for answers (the book) ... tired from the days efforts, turned over and gone to sleep. But, as escapes us, as mortals, the answers we seek are right out there ... in that Universe. The answers are, also, right in front of us - if we could but see them.

Why have I painted so many ‘windows’?
It is because I strive for perfection. I want to one day paint the perfect ‘window’.

We accept ‘art is a journey’.  ‘Window to The Stars’ is also a journey within itself.

And ... if I can paint that perfect ‘window’, in it you will be able to SEE those answers that we search for.

Peter Norvill 2008

Peter is not only interested in the visual arts, but also in music, photography, and most other artistic expressions. He relishes seeing his property used in the pursuit of these artistic endeavours and enjoys nothing more than having visitors stay at “Norville” and use the facilities he has created for that purpose.

(See Norville page for photos and more details.)