Art Classes at Radmac

Dawn has started to give art classes at Radmac, in Ballarat.

She absolutely loves it. It gives her an opportunity to share what she has learnt in painting, both representational and contemporary abstract art. Dawn started giving lessons to the ladies at church and now she is renting an art room at Radmac.

Holidays at Mildura

During June of this year, we went for a week's holidays at Mildura to recharge and be inspired by the various different sceneries there, from vineyards, orange fields to the native forests and the Murray river.

We took some photos for Dawn to paint from and she was very much inspired by the native scrubland. She painted a couple of these sceneries in the vein of "managerie" and "puppy love".

The gnarled and twisted treeforms were quite intriguing. The depth and shade of the forests were quite interesting too, which gave her a platform to start.

Encore?

Dawn had a sellout exhibition at Mad Gallery, and she has been invited to put on another exhibition there at the end of this month, June 2007. With the money she earned there, Dawn has bought some new canvases and she is busy painting.

Dawn's friend, Carolyn is also exhibiting there at the same time, she is the main attraction, and is a very good wildlife and animal painter. The eyes of the animals are so alive!

Carolyn's art can be seen on http://carolynart.spaces.live.com/

Blue Ribbon

Dawn has just finished a commissioned painting for blue ribbon real estate. They are selling our home for us.

They wanted a painting for their office that represents their business.

April 2007 Exhibition

This is the advert as it appears in Trouble Free magazine. The exhibition is at Mad Gallery, Lancefield, Victoria, Australia.

In the first four days of the exhibition, we have sold three paintings. Dawn said she was so excited and felt inspired to start a new series of paintings. This retrospective exhibition, have her artworks starting from 1993 to the present. It was good to see all the progress since then, all at once on the wall. She had only embarked in this contemporary style since her days in the 1990's.

It is good to express herself in her art instead of the traditional representative way. She felt that this is more challenging than ever.

An artist-teacher friend of the gallery described the paintings as strong and full of energy. It reinforced what the gallery owner felt about the paintings.

Please come and look at the exhibition if you are around the area.

Paintings Mar 2007

Dawn has been busy painting this month, and she is getting ready for an exhibition at Mad Gallery, Lancefield, Victoria.

Dawn says she had an idea on how to do this series of paintings since she first had a desire to paint in her teens. Finally, she is doing the paintings this month.

What do you think of this series? Do you like the style?

Soul Journeys

In my undergraduate studies at the University of Ballarat, I discovered a unique style to develop my expression, taken from the surrealist automatic drawing technique of making marks on the support and communicating with what is found.

I have been experimenting with automatic mark making and line since 1995, progressing to this body of work. I have called these paintings “Soul Journeys”, as this has been a recurring theme for me. The “Souls” depicted by eternal circles appear to be traveling through time surrounded by the lines which beg to suggest some sort of intelligence and inspirations.

Of course, the paintings are open to viewer interpretation as I agree with a comment made by Picasso that "A work of art is not thought out and settled beforehand. While it is being done, it changes as ones thoughts change. And when it is finished it still goes on changing, according to the state of the mind of whoever is looking at it."
I hope you enjoy viewing “Soul Journeys” as I have creating them.

About Father's Tears

Jesus Christ is central in my life, the cross reminds me of Jesus' atonement and cruxificion, with the angels on the left in white, waiting, and the Devil and his hosts in red at the bottom of the painting. Heavenly Father is looking from above, shedding his tears.

This is my interpretation of this painting and you are welcome to interprete this painting the way you choose.

I would love to see what you think of this painting, so please comment on it.

Dawn

Painting my way by Dawn Lim

I call my paintings abstract because they are not copied from anything I can see and are purely made up compositions straight from my imagination. I learnt while reading a surrealist manifesto which I found in my research whilst I was studying at University of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia, that by making marks, maybe in colour or shape, on my support, which could be canvas or paper or whatever I am painting or working on, things begin to form in your mind and you open up a dialogue with your work. You seem to communicate with it and the painting or drawing just kind of magically appears. I absolutely love creating in this way, it gives me the greatest pleasure and even though I can look and put reality, rather well, I felt nothing short of polished realism would satisfy me, and I really do not want to go that way any more.
I now like paint to behave like paint and I like the rough untidy gestural, spontaneous brush strokes and the magic that comes about as I work and struggle to create a composition. In short I have become too impatient to work in realism and like experimenting with shape, color and line. I have heard it said, “You cannot paint from a vacuum,” and for the most part I agree, I have sometimes got something on my mind to start me off, and I know what I want to paint but sometimes the paintings take shape nearly all by themselves. I feel like an outsider watching what takes place and am as surprised as any one else as to what results. This is the case with the four small paintings … thinking man, false prophet, in the beginning and fallen. The reason these four have a continuity is because I painted them all at the same time working one from the other and they just developed. I did not know what I was painting about until I saw them emerge and then I was easily able to title them, at least that was what I saw in them. Piccaso said that his paintings were not always thought out before hand but that they developed as he was creating them and even then they kept on developing even after he had finished with them in the imagination of the viewer. I agree whole heartedly with this sentiment.
Sometimes, I do not see anything specific I can title or name the paintings and can only say I am happy with the composition or colours or ambiance of the paintings. After painting in this way for nearly ten years, I still have a hard time trying to pin myself down to one particular style or result in the painting. Each one is completely different from the last. I feel like I’m still stylistically trying to find myself, although I have learnt that Piccaso had the same struggle. Like him, I have found myself on a cycle of returning to or revisiting the different styles, I have produced in the past and can point to blocks of works of the same types over time, and quite happily find myself following other artists’ progression. I find this interesting as it invokes the reality of collective consciences, which is something I am interested in.
I am not proficiently verbally to describe my paintings, after all I paint and would rather have my paintings speak for themselves, but I hope for anyone liking my work that this basic explanation of how I produce my paintings will help satisfy the need to know about them, and give some insight as to how they are produced.

Contemporary Abstract paintings by Dawn Lim

Abstract paintings in oil and acrylic by Modern Painter Dawn Lim. Original abstract art for sale


Original abstract art for sale. These modern paintings are derived by subconscious means starting with a blank canvas having little or no preconceived idea of what is to be created. By making marks on the canvass, these contemporary art works are developed by the brush stroke and colours chosen, with a dialogue, communicating with the artist as to what results in the paintings. The oil paintings can be quite gestural and expressionist.
I agree with a comment made by Picasso that "A work of art is not thought out and settled beforehand. While it is being done, it changes as ones thoughts change. And when it is finished it still goes on changing, according to the state of the mind of whoever is looking at it."
I have finished a fine arts degree in painting at the University of Ballarat.
I am now taking orders for these beautiful oil on canvas and acrylic paintings and once sold, will not be available, so hurry for a chance to buy these original art works at a bargain price.
I hope you enjoy my abstract art and don't forget to e-mail your comments.

I was born in the UK and have lived in Australia for half of my life. I have fond memories of an old country and the fresh invigorating influence of a young emerging nation.
I have always painted in a "look and put" representational way and now discovered a new abstract expressionist's model for my paintings.