231. Raspberry and Oreo ice cream on waffle/Himbeer- und Oreo-Eis auf Waffel
Raspberry and Oreo ice cream on waffle/Himbeer- und Oreo-Eis auf Waffel, 2025, Öl auf Leinwand, 20 × 15cm, (Darryn Ansted)
Autumn (Fall) is emerging. I struggle to adopt the word ‘fall’ because ‘autumn’ has such beautiful hymnal form. Seeing leaves fall from trees at the start of Autumn is something that I am enjoying like a brand-new activity here in Germany, in contrast to Perth, which has another kind of splendor to be sure. Maybe the cascading images of falling leaves will endear me to the term Fall, in time.
How to see. I loved the art classes that would teach me how to see. Of course we see, but to really start to actively engage with something through seeing is really one of life’s sublime pleasures. I loved the art classes that, when you walked out of it, you would actually look at the world differently. Look up now from your screen. How many red things do you see? How much of your field of vision is taken up by earth colors (grays and browns)? How restless are your eyes? What are they lingering on?
Here I have been painting, yes, for a living, for 4 years and then, recently, I started my own tiny painting school here in Geseke (4 years away from teenagers has been enough to rekindle my interest in teaching). The small number of students has been perfect because I am still getting used to teaching in German. It has also been good because I have changed my approach to teaching painting. I used to avoid pushing my own particular approach to painting onto students and I always tried to catalyze self-development instead, where possible. However, now I show students how I work, and it is a more co-operative ‘atelier style’ class. I’ve enjoyed sharing some insights directly with people. You tend to take it for granted after a while, knowing that there are better ways of pulling elements together on a canvas. Or at least, ways of bringing the viewer around to your sense of things. The question remains how to inventively translate things (real or not) into a painting. The answer, forget your assumptions.
