With all my ART - Jillian Cheshire

ABOUT THE ARTWORK 

Many of the artworks begin with observations of the Australian environment: the tilt of a protea bloom, the silouettes of birds along a water's edge, the textures of rusted metal or sun- bleached timber. These details find their way into the surface as translucent prints, drawn lines and softly veiled shapes. I am interested in that point where the image is almost dissolving- where a kangaroo or a flower is still recognisable, but slipping gently into a pattern, texture and atmosphere. In this space, the familiar becomes dreamlike. 

Layering is both a visual and emotional response and process for me. I sand back, glaze, collage and redraw allowing earlier mark making to show through like the way billboards are aesthetically, glimpses of history that went before, which is a huge inspiration for me. Works such as Memories of Home, Australian Wildflowers, Life in West Torrens and Protea Sisters explore how our sense of belonging is constructed from small, over lapping impression- of landscapes walked, birds watched, communities lived in and loved. Even my more geometric pieces, like 'When Two Worlds Collide' or 'My Happy Place', carry a feeling of aged surfaces and lived experience beneath their ordered surfaces. 

Ultimately, I hope my paintings, offer viewers a moment of quiet contemplation and recognition. Rather than telling a single fixed story, each work holds space for multiple readings: a childhood place resurfacing, as fragment of country remembered, or simply the pleasure of colour, rhythm and texture. In inviting others to trace the layers, I am inviting them to find their own memories and pathways within the artwork-to walk for a moment, in that delicate territory between the ageing and the ageless.