About A Land Far, Far Away - Spring - STILL LIFE

SPRING is a second painting out of four from the About A Land Far, Far Away one-off miniseries telling stories about an Australia's flora, a beauty of its native flowers and plants.

Hey, man! Hey, man! Tell me a tale
About A Land Far, Far Away.
A mystery land at the end of the Earth
That lies beneath the Southern Cross...

Terra Australis is the name
Of a great South Land far, far away.
One day, one day I will follow my dream
And sail the world to the Pacific Rim.

I will ask the stars to show me the way
To my dream land far, far away.
I will beg the sea to keep me alive
And not to be hungry for my humble life.

Hey, man! Hey, man! Write me a song,
That gives me the courage and makes me strong
To conquer the weather, currents and sea,
To become the man I wanted to be.

Hey, man! Hey, man! Sing me that song
About the country to which I wish to belong.
When I see cliffs, hear birds and the squeaky sand,
I will know I am lucky that I’ve found my land.

To be continued... See the Autumn

Song and original story by Olga Kolesnik. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of Olga Kolesnik.

December 2017

First published - Bluethumb in January 2018

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I am not an artist of one painting style. I like to experiment and explore the art landscape. This is probably definitely complicating my reputation as an artist in gallerists’ eyes, but attracts many different people who look for creative diversity, flexibility and fluidity within one artist. I do not want to die wondering how my art would look like if I were an abstract expressionist. I want to try it, do it, celebrate life as I see it and express myself in more ways than just one.

While always staying true to my favourite subjects such as floral still life, birds, female portraits and occasional landscapes, I utilize elements of a few styles to add interest and a contemporary twist to a painting to create something original and exciting.

In my figurative artworks, I often fill nearly realistic shapes with emotions of certain chosen colours. I also like the intuitiveness and freedom abstract art offers and adore both the pure forms , ‘a form filtered to its essentials’ (Matisse), and conciseness of minimalism and maximalism of colourful expressionist abstracts.

I began to draw and paint when I was a child and finished high school with a formal qualification and certificate allowing me to work as a Graphic Design artist. But it didn’t happen. I got my Master’s Degree in Engineering instead and then worked as an engineer & research scientist and in technical Sales & Marketing.

I have always been interested in art. When I picked up brushes for real, sometime after moving to Sydney, I felt like I never ceased to paint. It took me a few years, many workshops and classes with the best Australian artists to realize that it was time to go on my own journey.

I would call myself an Australian Colourist, an artist who prefers bold, vivid colours. I don’t see the world through dark tinted sunglasses. I would rather exaggerate a colour than imitate greyed muted colour and use the colour that works than the colour that’s ‘really there’. But the truth is I like all the colours to paint with, including the polar opposites, those on a bright Matisse’s palette and neutral pastel hues. I can use only neutral tones if they describe the theme and emotions of the painting better. I believe that our relationship with colours works both ways. They influence our feelings and, the other way around, our mood or personality dictates what colours we dislike, love or choose.

As “an explorer” I will continue to mix and shake popular painting styles in my never-ending and almost impossible quest to discover a new unknown style I can put my fingerprints on.