Thoughts of buttons Original by Clare Griffiths

mixed media, oil paint and buttons on fabric
20cm x 20cm
 
The world can be an overwhelmingly noisy place.
Constant beeps, rings and buzzes from social media and 24hour news leads to burn out and poor mental health.
When we close our eyes we can disconnect, breathe, take a moment for ourselves and slow down.
This artwork captures that moment.
She stops and thinks of something nice, beautiful, simple.
Here she thinks of the beautiful buttons she uses in her craft work and they appear and surround her....she can escape to a calmer creative world.
 
 
Ladies lost in thought
You can't be an artist.
These words resonate with many artists.
After finishing my Fine Art degree, I hung up my brushes to return to the real world. I experienced life, gained my wonderful family and cultivated my career as a museum curator, a job I love. But something was missing, I wanted to return to my dream world, my art.
For that is what it is.
Creating artwork is a calming dream.
It is easy to get swept up in our noisy, fast-paced modern world.
The process of creating allows me to take a moment, slow down and forget about the stresses of the day.
Oil paintings take time, it is a medative process. I enjoy slowly smoothing the paint onto the fabrics. I use gold paint for the background or i use it to pick out parts of the pattern in gold around the women I depict, so they appear like other worldly goddesses.
Drawings are easier to fit around life, giving me smaller windows of calm.
These are precious moments, creating peaceful sublime women I'd like to become. Hair free flowing or loosely contained, swirling and teasing out the stresses of the day.
The carefree lines of Art Nouveau, Gustav Klimt's golden ladies and the devine Pre-Raphaelite women inspire me.
Ladies lost in thought are the embodiment of peace and harmony.
Wouldn't we all like to be part of this world?