Wisdom at the Crossroads, the Podcast.

Thanks for joining me to on this podcasting journey. This week we weather a prairie storm to be reminded less can definitely be more and firsts are always worth remembering.

Today’s featured pair, “AFTERNOON SHOWERS”, was inspired by an afternoon road trip in the summer of 2008. The pair became members of our household when a same sized pair moved on to their forever home. I didn’t let my husband sell this diptych which became part of the backdrop to our lives when they moved out of the studio and into our living room. They bring sunshine indoors on even the coldest days of a Northern winter on the Prairies.

“AFTERNOON SHOWERS I”, 30’ x 60”, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008 By Amanda Onchulenko

This diptych was the result of a very fun yet focused week of work while the children were at camp and Mum was free to play, all day.

Today at the studio as I was contemplating writing this episode I spent some time in a reflective state taking in the vibes and the winter light in my space. We have had a bumper year from a skiers perspective with record amounts of snow that has created snowbanks as high as fences. Snow ironically usually brings milder temperatures here but as luck would have it we have had record cold as well.

Driving conditions aren’t ideal and if you were to ask any Manitoban they would surely tell you they are ready to hang up their snow shovels and replace them with a rake or a trowel to go play in the dirt. Gardening season may be a ways away for us just yet but it never hurts to take ourselves on a little mindful journey when we need to reboot.

Studio practice isn’t simply the act of creating; getting out meeting and engaging with a new to me audience is always a part of the equation. I love the connections I have made through my art and have found colour is connective particularly in a nation where winters white reigns for a large chunk of the year. After 31 years in Canada, I’m dating myself, I know, I find the morphed accent of mine does still get in the way especially when I am meeting new people or when I am tired and this weekend I was both. I wrote the following quote many years ago as a way to describe the way I expressed myself without getting tangled up in vowels.

“Colour quiets me, colour lets me sing. It is my language in all its affectations of nuance, of syntax, of pronunciation. My voice is most clear in colour”. And really it is still accurate; this podcasting venture is challenging me to step out of my comfort zone, to try new things, and to shake up my comfortable paradigm just a little bit. I want to thank you for spending your valuable currency listening in and deciphering my words. I really am trying to slow down, on so many levels lol. This past weekend my boss had me working 12 hour days, during a blizzard, at a convention centre, which explains the contemplative mood I was in at the studio earlier, some might call it exhaustion.

Being in a crowded public venue after two years of restrictions and shut downs was a definite contrast to my solo practitioner status where I work alone in a cozy and quiet studio space with piano gently playing in the background. I love to see colour at work on even the most taupe loving, and neutral friendly folks, to field questions and to soak up the enthusiasm of those who are truly touched by what they see.

At the event which was a departure for me it was interesting to hear peoples questions and comments about my work and also to notice which pieces they connected with in a display I only half-jokingly called “Colour vs Winter”.

“Fiesta” is a busy floral landscape with lots of action and lots of colour that I finished just in time to include. I called it “Fiesta” because right now I am dreaming of walking on a Mexican beach. Others may have also been in a Mexican frame of mind as “Fiesta” was an early favourite on the most talked about list. The set up involed a double sided wall so those circling back to see the reverse side were greeted by a large 4’ x 8’ diptych, “Wonderland: Heart and Soul”, striking a pose in the afternoon sunlight.

“Bear Necessities” had a distinct following too by the end of the weekend, among them my hubby who “in air quotes,” borrowed” her for a zoom courtroom he was refreshing at the office. These pieces might feature in future episodes but for now I want to take a brief journey back through the archive to an august road trip that resulted in another diptych named, “AFTERNOON SHOWERS I and II”. It is a pair of 30’ x 60” vertical canvases from 2008. (Shown above)

“FIESTA”, 24’ x 60”, is a busy floral landscape that inspired winter weary visitors in Winnipeg in February with thoughts of Mexican holidays and retreats to warmer climates. Since this podcast was recorded this painting has been donated to The OSEREDOK ART AUCTION and Fundraising initiative in support of the Canada-Ukraine Fund and local initiatives to support what Manitoban’s expect to be an influx of Ukrainian Refugees locally.
**!00% of proceeds from this painting will be donated. Please contact Osederok’s Fundraising officer for more information katie@oseredok.ca or call 204 942 0218 (w)**

With the snow continuing to pile up outside there are no rain showers in our forecast other than this pair that straddles our family room fireplace and fills our living area with prairie sunshine year round.

They were the last piece I created to fill a gap in wall space when I exhibited, I forget where, that year. It was also the first pair I painted without having to set my alarm to pick up my kids or to fit painting time in around summer or school activities.

I was the stay at home mum at the time. I used to joke that I just wasn’t home. Instead I would drop the girls off at school and head to the studio where I would be up to my elbows in paint or ankles in fabric until the alarm sounded to remind me it was time to go. Summer was something we all looked forward to but the downside for me was that studio time was pretty much out until the school year began again in September.

In this particular year our girls were playing ringette among other sports. It is a game played on ice with a hook less stick and rubber ring instead of a hockey stick. It encourages team play, passing and without having to stick handle a puck, is played at full speed. It is fun to watch at even the early age groups.

Anyway without grandparents nearby when the girls attended ringette camp together it was the first time we were without children since having children. The camp was a sleepover camp about 40 minutes to the south east. There was a request for cabin mums, which I successfully dodged. Sorry kids but date week and paint week loomed and I really needed it. Everyone was excited. I had bought and prepped two new large canvases for the occasion and plotted out 4 nights of restaurants for date night dinners out, so I was ready. Joy was palpable.

The Sunday drop off day arrived and we packed up and drove to the camp where we watched the little teams of girls excitedly sort out their bunking arrangements according to age group and met the cabin mums. (Bless you) A quick bbq and we were on the road heading home. Summer days are endless this far north. After what had been a beautiful prairie summer day we could see the sky grumbling in the rear view mirror as a spectacle of a prairie storm rolled directly towards the camp we had just left. The drive by shooter that I was I snapped a series of photographs from the passenger seat as I wondered if I was doing the right thing in leaving my babies behind.

No phone calls home and the week went off perfectly. I remember feeling exhilarated and exhausted from all that work at play. The storm had inspired the subject matter and I had a lot of fun allowing myself the luxury of uninterrupted time to paint. I used some big brushes on the underpainting with loose liquid acrylic and remember enjoying watching a watered down version of liquitex’s brilliant blue drip into the horizon line and beyond from the sky as a reference to the stormy show we had witness on the drive home to the city.

The girls had a wonderful time and so did we. And a few days later I had the girls with me as we stopped by the studio. They loved to go there and we often did back to school fashion shoots on the roof with a turn of the century architectural backdrop. On this day I handed our youngest the studio keys as she always wanted to be first. She raced up the stairs to unlock the door as our eldest and I climbed to the second floor behind her. As we reached the top steps my youngest met us there, ashen faced and clearly upset. I worried she had fallen and hurt herself,” No” she explained, she had seen the paintings and was saddened to tell me, ”Mum, your paintings have dripped”. She thought they had been ruined. It was so sweet.

“Afternoon Showers” exhibited briefly but around that time my hubby had convinced me to sell one of my first poppy pairs also 30” x 60” that had hung on either side of our fireplace, to a client who had been campaigning for them. I agreed to send them on their way despite the fact that I tried to keep the firsts of new bodies work. “Afternoon Showers” made for a simple replacement. It turns out the yellow that shines in the centre of this pair somehow speaks to me as an ex pat Australian where yellow is embraced more commonly than it is in the northern hemisphere. It might be something about the light, it is definitely something about that volatile prairie storm that neutralised the tension of worry and excitement and reminds me we all need a little journey on occasion that refreshes our perspective and soothes us from our core.

“Afternoon Showers” has hung by the fireplace ever since. It’s true that we get comfortable with items in our home that help to make it feel like our own. These two are part of the furniture but they are not shrinking violets. Originally a temporary stop gap to painting storage I should confess we have only recently added a picture hook and attached wires to their backs for hanging after they had been bumped too often from their push pin temporary supports and crashed down to the floor one too many times.

This pair reminds me of that week at the end of a summer. My journey was intense. It took me away from my usual responsibilities and allowed me to play, to express myself as a creative. There was no accent to be misinterpreted beyond the accent on colour that clearly shines.

Another lesson I learned from this pair was that less can definitely be more. With only 4 very full studio days I covered a lot of literal ground. I didn’t have time to go in and “neaten or clean” things up which generally leads to overdoing it so the end result remains fresh and seemingly unstructured. It also reminds me to respect the perception of young patrons who have their own very distinct set of parameters for how they see and interpret the world. Ruin is subjective.

The foreground reflects the idea of scrubby and wild grasses by means of reductive brush strokes made with a square bristled brush. The marks are generally in solid colour on top of the washy rouged underpainting.

These paintings work as a diptych but the compositions standalone individually so that if one day our competitive children can’t decide who gets what the pair of paintings can be easily separated to solve the problem, to literally balance the visual equation.

I hope my stories are inspiring and help you to recall some of your own stellar moments. on the road of life you have thus far travelled. I appreciate you joining me on the ride that is mine.

If my work or words inspire you please consider sharing the podcast with a friend or writing a review

Listen to the full episode anywhere you get your podcasts.

This week’s meditation begins at 10:55 in the recording

I will add the new link below when the episode is live but in case you stop by ahead of that you can feel free to google “wisdom at the crossroads podcast” with amanda Onchulenko, Season 1 Episode 6 :”AFTERNOON SHOWERS”

Leave your questions or comments on the website or find me on instagram @mandartcanada. I would love to hear from you

Until next time, stay well, all best

Amanda

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