The rising moon and other contemplations
- Thornton Walker

‘These paintings and collages were done over the last few years during lockdowns and border closures. For most of this period I wasn’t able to get to the east coast Tasmania, where my subject matter and inspiration has been for the last few years. Perhaps because of this, the landscapes are generally less about a specific place and more to do with an interior world, like fragments from dreams or hazy recollections.

In the studio I changed painting mediums from oil to acrylic. Being quick drying with a high viscosity, it behaves quite differently to oil paint. I had to work faster, and the process was unpredictable and exciting. Applying multiple layers or reworking the entire composition was possible almost immediately… it was like learning to paint again.

The Zen idea of having a ‘beginner’s mind’. An open mind, without formulas, is something I aspire to in the studio, in that zone, the work can take on a life of its​ own, often surpassing my expectations, with the finished painting bearing little resemblance to my initial idea.

In those months when I wasn’t able get to the studio because of even tighter restrictions, I produced a series of more intimate collages at the kitchen table. Using still life objects cut out of discarded watercolours, then pasted onto pages of old calligraphic Japanese paper I had found in Kyoto some years earlier. These pared back vignettes became a kind of diary, a way to find some stillness and clarity.’

-Thornton Walker, March 2022