The long road.

Flight of Faith. 1984. Oil on canvas.

 
First the painting now the book! Flight of Faith. A memoir of life as an artist in Tuscany.

Living the dream and surviving the reality. The 20 years i lived in Tuscany before moving to Australia in 2000, form the basis of this memoir...

...Ian drops by the studio now and then, cradling his newborn baby girl, Paula.  I sketch her fussing in his arms and when she finally allows him to put her down, he poses as the central figure in the large painting I am working on, giving expression to my current upheaval.  Ambiguity is one of my hallmarks, the Pisces in me, and I have found a good title for the painting: Flight of Faith.  Is faith being routed or taking wing?  Am I running away, fleeing, or am I about to soar?  Ian charges towards us down a long alley of cypress trees, caught in the headlights of a car at dusk like a startled rabbit―caught outside his rabbit hole?  Has the spell finally been broken?  His arms are outstretched as if he is preparing for take off.  The lower half of his body is dematerialising, becoming transparent, hinting that he might soon be invisible.  Cortona is perched above the remnants of the sun on the left hand side of the painting and 'the valley' is buried in the opposite corner with the ploughed fields in the foreground appearing like a swelling sea, giving rise to further interpretations: Moses parting the waves and leading us to the promised land, or is he leading me out of the promised land?