Commissioned Work

Soft is the Heart of a Child (IV)
Elizabeth Love
December 2009
Mixed media on canvas
305x305x35mm

What an honour to be asked to paint a work to mark an event in someone's life!

References to:

Soft is the Heart of a Child poem by Lady Pamela Wyndham Glenconner
Bitter are the tears of a child:
Sweeten them.
Deep are the thoughts of a child:
Quiet them.
Sharp is the grief of a child:
Take it from him.
Soft is the heart of a child:
Do nothing to harden it.

Children painting
Movement, energy, spontaneity
Doorways, pathways
Life purpose, plan
Simple recipe – French toast
Mount Aoraki/Cook

Collaborative works with youth (3 of 3)

Whenever I Say Your Name (III)
- in collaboration with Sandie Davies & Elizabeth Love
October 2009
Mixed media on canvas
SOLD d gr8 sth cantabury yth art expo 2k9

Collaborative works with youth (2 of 3)

Whenever I Say Your Name (II)
Stencil art by youth artists
- in collaboration with Sandie Davies & Elizabeth Love
October 2009
Acrylic on canvas
SOLD d gr8 sth cantabury yth art expo 2k9


Sting & Mary J. Blige

Collaborative works with youth (1 of 3)

Whenever I Say Your Name (I)
Hand-painted papers by youth artists collaged by Elizabeth Love
September 2009
Mixed media on canvas
SOLD d gr8 sth cantabury yth art expo 2k9

Whenever I say your name, whenever I call to mind your face
Whatever bread's in my mouth, whatever the sweetest wine that I taste
Whenever your memory feeds my soul, whatever got broken becomes whole
Whenever I'm filled with doubts that we will be together

Wherever I lay me down, wherever I put my head to sleep
Whenever I hurt and cry, whenever I got to lie awake and weep
Whenever I kneel to pray, whenever I need to find a way
I'm calling out your name

Whenever those dark clouds hide the moon
Whenever this world has gotten so strange
I know that something's gonna change
Something's gonna change

Whenever I say your name, Whenever I say your name, I'm already praying, I'm already praying
I'm already filled with a joy that I can't explain
Wherever I lay me down, wherever I rest my weary head to sleep
Whenever I hurt and cry, whenever I got to lie awake and weep
Whenever I'm on the floor
Whatever it was that I believed before
Whenever I say your name, whenever I say it loud, I'm already praying

Whenever this world has got me down, whenever I shed a tear
Whenever the TV makes me mad, whenever I'm paralyzed with fear
Whenever those dark clouds fill the sky, whenever I lose the reason why
Whenever I'm filled with doubts that we will be together

Whenever the sun refuse to shine, whenever the skies are pouring rain
Whatever I lost I thought was mine whenever I close my eyes in pain
Whenever I kneel to pray, whenever I need to find a way
I'm calling out your name

Whenever this dark begins to fall
Whenever I'm vulnerable and small
Whenever I feel like I could die
Whenever I'm holding back the tears that I cry

Whenever I say your name, whenever I call to mind your face
I'm already praying
Whatever bread's in my mouth, whatever the sweetest wine that I taste
Wherever I lay me down, wherever I rest my weary head to sleep
Whenever I hurt and cry, whenever I'm forced to lie awake and have to weep
Whenever I'm on the floor
Whatever it was that I believed before
Whenever I say your name, whenever I say it loud, I'm already praying

Whenever I say your name,
No matter how long it takes,
One day we'll be together

Whenever I say your name,
let there be no mistake
that day will last forever

Sting & Police

The Great South Canterbury Youth Art Expo 2009 - reflections

Several people have asked how the gr8 sth cantabury yth art expo 2k9 went. Overall it was such a worthwhile experience for those involved with most of the artworks selling.

Some of the art came from workshops held for youth who are currently out of mainstream education. Workshops were held from August - October 09 by Sandie Davies, Christeena MacDonald & myself.

Creating work together in a group, around a table, is always a special time.


Painting is an extension of man's means of communication.
As such, it's pure, difficult, and wonderful.
Sidney Nolan
Australian Painter, 1917-1992

South Canterbury Arts Society 57th Annual Exhibition - Invitation

Prayer for a Friend (I)
Elizabeth Love
October 2009
Mixed media on canvas
1020x1020x35mm
$2500


Prayer for a Friend (I) detail

South Canterbury Arts Society 57th Annual Exhibition
Opening Night Preview
Friday 16 October 2009
7.30pm

d gr8 sth cantabury yth art expo 2k9

The Great South Canterbury
Youth Art Expo 2009

invitation

Please join us in celebrating
the work of youth artists -
20%+ sales to benefit community group
Victim Support South Canterbury

One day only Art Exhibition

Sales of non-sponsored art from 11am

Collaborative art sold by
Silent Auction (last bid 4.30pm)
followed by closing speeches

Project supported by:
Aoraki Alternative Education, Barnabas Trust, Christeena MacDonald,
Creative NZ, Debbie Templeton-Page: York Street Art Gallery, Elizabeth Love,
Jan Robertson, Polly Rowe, Resene, Sandie Davies, SC Textiles Ltd,
SC Young Professionals, Warehouse Stationery, Youth Advocates, Youth Alley

Saturday 17 October 2009
11am – 5pm
York Street Art Gallery
21 York Street, TIMARU

Question 5

Mother's Legacy (XVIII): Mia
March 2007/Reworked April 2007
Mixed media on canvas
610x910x35mm

Do you have some of your paintings in exhibitions in other places around New Zealand?

Sometimes I will send work away to exhibitions in other parts of New Zealand. There are lots of opportunities for artists to exhibit. One day I would also like to exhibit outside of New Zealand. One place in particular would be in Belfast, Northern Ireland, due to my parents setting off for life in New Zealand from there…

Question 4

Work in progress

A lot of your artwork on the website is Mixed Media. What does that mean?

Mixed media is the term given to work that just doesn’t use one medium – other than paint I use things like tissue paper patterns, oil sticks, graphite, shellac, water-colour pencils, ink, pieces of my dried up paint (paint-skins), torn hand-coloured ‘scraps’…

Eric Carle is an artist I admire. He hand paints tissue papers for his collages. I like to study his illustrations & see how he has put them together.

Question 3

The Quilting (XXXI): All My Delight is in You, Lord (detail)
Dec 2006
Mixed media on canvas
510x510x35mm

How long have you been an artist for?

I believe we all are artists from birth...creativity takes many forms.

Question 2

detail
Soft is the Heart of a Child (III)
June 2007

What makes you enjoy being an artist? What makes your artwork so special?

I believe we are all created for a wonderful purpose, as written in Psalm 139.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

I enjoy working as an artist because it feels like my perfect job-fit. When I’m working, sometimes I will jump around because I’m s-o happy with the way the colours are! I’ve never felt that way about any other work I’ve done…

5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.

I think what makes an artwork special is when people connect with it. Like when people buy a painting. There will be something about the painting that made them remember a time that has passed…


Psalm 139.
Today's New International Version
International Bible Society
© Copyright 2001, 2005

Question 1

detail
Soft is the Heart of a Child (I)
Mar 2007

How did you get into art and what made you interested? (Did someone influence you?)

I’ve always enjoyed the process of making art. I remember the first drawing I did at school. It was of a bus. I didn’t have to catch a bus to school, because I just lived up the street, but perhaps I had been read stories about children catching buses to school! That is how my art works...I read a story or a poem, I listen to someone speaking, I see something...I think about it & the thoughts come out as symbolic images. In my studio I still have one of my childhood books: Mother Goose – A Collection of Nursery Rhymes by Brian Wildsmith. Sometimes I look at the colours for inspiration.

My mother especially influenced me when I was young. She worked as an embroiderer so always had lovely fabrics around & hung out with other ladies who also liked to create. We had art in our house – I liked looking at it, thinking that an actual person had made it. It’s the same way I look at art now – I look closely for the brush marks of the artist, I think about the materials that have been used...

My mother encouraged me with my art-making & took me to see exhibitions. I remember one exhibition in particular...the artist had made some large abstracts using a series of dots. I don't think I had seen work like that before. My mother didn't like them, but I sure did!

Greetings to Highfield School

Identifiable Marks series
Elizabeth Love
2006


This week I was e-mailed the following questions by a 10 year old pupil at Highfield School, Timaru...

1. How did you get into art and what made you interested? (Did someone influence you?)

2. What makes you enjoy being an artist? What makes your artwork so special?

3. How long have you been an artist for?

4. A lot of your artwork on the website is Mixed Media. What does that mean?

5. Do you have some of your paintings in exhibitions in other places around New Zealand?


I thought they were great questions. They made me think about my practice as an artist & how it has been for me since I was very young.

Extending Silence

Detail from:
Extending Silence (XII): Evensong
Elizabeth Love

...to the four winds at Kakanui

Kakanui (I): To the Four Winds
WIP
Oil on canvas
610x910x35mm

Happy Valentine's Day

LOVE Hearts (44)
Elizabeth Love
Mar 2007
Mixed media on canvas
100x100x35mm


From The Prayer Tree
by Michael Leunig

When the heart
Is cut or cracked or broken
Do not clutch it
Let the wound lie open
Let the wind
From the good old sea blow in
To bathe the wound with salt
And let it sting
Let a stray dog lick it
Let a bird lean in the hole and sing
A simple song like a tiny bell
And let it ring

Dave Dobbyn - Parachute Music Festival

Recently I attended the Parachute Music Festival. What a great event! If you have ever thought of going, GO.

The most moving part of the weekend for me was listening to Dave Dobbyn's sound-check & the lament, Beside You.

Here's to your garden
Here's to your kids
I heard you were in the neighbourhood
I've been a long time on the skids
And baby I'm beside you
You run from the river when it long ran over you

This is for you standing up to a bone chilling wind
This is for the failures you collected from my sins
And this is for your lonesome tears I never dried
This is for your hanging in in the hope that it never dies

And baby I'm beside you
You run from the river when it long ran over you

This is for you waiting up though the call never came
For the milk of human kindnesses you collected from our dream
And this is for your lonesome tears I never dried
This is for your hanging in in the hope that it never dies

And baby I'm beside you
You run from the river when it long ran over you
And now I'm running here beside you
And now I'm running here beside you

This is for the traveller on a blinding desert road
May good fortune smile upon you and may love be your only load
And this is for the only one who could quell my burning rage
To anyone who's been a broken man and anyone seen better days

Baby I'm beside you
And now I'm running here beside you
And now I'm running here beside you
And now I'm running here beside you
And now I'm running here beside you

I use Dobbyn's music quite a bit at times to work to. May he continue to be a blessing to many.