LARA MELLON
artist statement
There is no way surely that I could express as well as John O'Donohue does in Eternal Echoes this Matins. As I try to pen down an “artist's statement” I find myself frustrated at not being able to convey in words what would make sense to you the reader and then remember that this is why I paint.
I grapple and fumble with a multitude of words and as many an emotion that swirl within me; how do I convey to you what I struggle with myself.
In painting I find myself wrestling with the slowness with which outflows the paint from the tube. Covered in colour I work in rags so rich in hues of hot sienna's, umbers, solemn browns and burnt oranges, and of graying whites and dying reds. I scumble, scratch and scrape and pull the paint across the canvas ever searching for tones that eventually relent and release images of faces, figures and forms that pull through to the surface from surrounding seas and lands revealing themselves but only partly … with just enough detail to reveal their spirit.
I paint and I create so that I discover the light within the dark, and the spirit, which is Hope within this time of Earth.
MATINS
Somewhere, out at the edges, the night
Is turning and the waves of darkness
Begin to brighten the shore of dawn
The heavy dark falls back to earth
And the freed air goes wild with light,
The heart fills with fresh, bright breath
And thoughts stir to give birth to colour
I arise to day
In the name of Silence
Womb of the Word,
In the name of Stillness
Home of Belonging,
In the name of the Solitude
of the Soul and the Earth
I arise today
Blessed by all things
wings of breath,
delight of eyes,
wonder of whisper,
intimacy of touch,
eternity of soul,
urgency of thought,
miracle of health,
embrace of God
May I live this day
Compassionate of heart,
Gentle in word,
Gracious in awareness
Courageous in thought,
Generous in love
Eternal Echoes
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