Paula Burns
  • Welcome
  • Artist's Page
  • Gallery Index
  • Music
  • Novels
  • Poetry
  • Contact
Picture


My journey into art as a creative medium began over a decade ago, during a long period of illness. Unable to go on holiday, as planned, I bought a digital camera with which to ‘amuse’  myself
.

Picture
I started out by taking the usual ‘snaps’ but quickly tired of the predictable results. A few weeks after buying the camera I tried taking some still life shots of objects arranged on my kitchen table. When I transferred the images to my computer screen I realised that visually I was far more captivated by the crepe paper and silver foil I’d used as a backdrop. I began to see pictorial possibilities in the lines and folds in the paper. In addition, simply shining a torch through a piece of tissue paper, or hessian, provided the luminosity required for landscaping images.

For me, art is essentially the unconscious at play.  I may start with a rough idea but rarely work to a fixed goal. My work evolves organically and the process is of equal importance to the end result.

Some of the work on this site could be termed survival images. Rarely able to travel I feel inspired to create images of abstract landscapes and galactic worlds – which are energised with an aura of strangeness and beauty.


Picture
However, I am also interested in the human figure and the way in which the presence of personhood contributes to the narrative aspect in art.
The figurative ballerina pictures in the self portrait gallery are symbolic of a dialogue with my difficulties concerning immobility due to a neurological condition. They also represent a shift in focus over time as I have come to terms with increasing levels of disability. The initial self-portraits were taken in 2002, to coincide with my 50th. The second take is from 2012, (my 60th) and the next take will be in 2022 to coincide with my 70th (hopefully!)


My art, writing and music has become an adventure in thought and creative expression over many years and is therefore a continuous work in progress. 


return to welcome page

All artwork and written material is copyright © Paula Burns 2015.  No reproduction or use without the artist's consent.