This artwork was created for the "Luft" exhibition at Mounted ARI. Artists, writers and musicians were asked to listen to a composition called "Luft" by Peter Cobbin’s with no background information. We were then to create something from our inspiration.
 
I envisioned a goddess, mountains in the background, a river and a wild wind. As I researched Wind Goddesses, I discovered the Aurae – Greek breeze nymphs. They were daughters of the north wind – Boreas or the earth circling river Oceanus. In some stories they are two people, in others they are one – Goddess Aura. Aura was the Goddess of the gentle breeze. She could manifest winds, was a good huntress and loved running in the wild with bears.
 
I love the idea of “throwing caution to the wind” and running with bears. How can we do that in our time? Put a pause on the burdens we carry, run and be wild for a time, connect to our joy and come back to fulfil our roles with renewed, passionate energy?
How can we manifest our desires using our breath/words to draw things closer to us or to push unwanted desires away?
 
This artwork began as something else, but felt forced. I paint intuitively, without a plan in mind so I began anew. I used a completely different colour palette, scraping paint freely across the canvas with a ruler. Within the swirls, a storm appeared, a wave and mountains even! I had to trust the process and reconnect to my creativity for it all to flow. The nymphs causing waves and wind were an easy addition with their swirling words of love.
 
Mixed media on canvas 55.5x75.5x3.5cm