“Walking along the tracks and pathways around Bingie during the covid restrictions brought up many emotions, but the clearest one of all was gratitude,” says Bingi painter, Stuart Whitelaw.
Works from the artist’s most recent show – Walking with Canvas – embody that keenly felt sentiment.
“Gratitude that this small patch was not burnt, gratitude that I am still motivated to walk and work outdoors.”
“There are moments when you are required to pay attention to a walk.” he says.
” Something about the light or the way the path turns makes you happy. These small moments of enlightenment became the touchstone for this body of work.”
After his exhibition, WOOEE asked Stuart about his more recent walks through the burnt out areas of Yuin Country.
” After completing the works for this exhibition, my partner Jan and I did some walking in the ranges west of Moruya that were heavily impacted by the fires. After the precious time walking and working in our little patch of unburnt country, the walks were pretty confronting. ” he says.
“Sure there are green shoots and running creeks but the absence of insects, animals and particularly birds was startling. The silence was deafening and shocking.”
“One can’t help but wonder if future generations will be able to see the bush in all its glory. In the meantime, I enjoy the most ‘ordinary’ places, and try to put something of that experience onto canvas.”
Walking With Canvas showed at Gallery Bodalla
Lit with the power of appreciation, it offered a tenderly observed and creative ode to Country in the wake of Black Summer.
Sharing a unique visual rendering of the quieter, preciously-held inner and outer spaces traversed by the artist in the depths of a global pandemic, it conveyed the place of beauty in hope and healing. Truly a call to look with our eyes and our senses, open. And with appreciation and regard for the beauty we can still find. And the welcome ahead.
WOOEE
You can view more of Stuart’s paintings from Walking With Canvas at this slideshow
https://www.gallerybodalla.com.au/stuart-whitelaw-2021
WOOEE_May2022
