Crescendo: from the Italian word ´to grow’ created in response to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Winter.
Listening to music as I paint frees my mind to the point where I am responding intuitively to the pitch and tempo in the sound which informs the marks I make and is much like conducting.
First using a rag dipped in paint and sweeping it across the board helps set the temperament of the work. Moving on to various sizes of brush to draw or layer paint mixed with medium for transparency which shows the where it started and how it went, the story, much like the musical piece is telling its own story. Dividing the work up into bands of colour is reminiscent of the horizontal lines in sheet music on which the notes dance.
It was only after finishing the piece that I made the connection between the types of marks I had made and the hairpin like musical symbol to indicate playing a crescendo. Standing back you can see the V form of marks rising from bottom to top which conveys a sense of growing in volume.
Kate Owen is an abstract painter with a passion for colour. Painting full time from her home studio, a creative oasis with expansive views of undulating country on their farming property in northern NSW.
Her work conveys the playful curiosity of childhood where wonder, spontaneity and creativity are abundant. She enjoys the physicality of drawing with paint using acrylic and oil sticks intuitively. Her use of colour heightens emotional resonance in the work.
She took up painting full time in 2017 after working in various creative industries. Having had several solo exhibitions and group shows along with a handful of minor art prizes she has recently been listed with Wentworth Galleries in Brisbane.
