I have had such an amazing response to the announcement of my Climate Project 2022 that I feel compelled to keep a diary of the experience and process of the painting, research and conversations I am having. Already the connections I am making are significant and I am greatly encouraged by each one of them.

Let me fill you in on the process so far.

The build up to starting this project happened over a 3 month period after I had the idea in October 2021. At first I mulled it over in my head, wondering if I could fulfil such a task, if anyone would be interested in it, if it would mean anything or have any impact at all. I came to the conclusion that none of that mattered- I wanted to do it for myself. At the time I had a quiet year ahead, I didn’t have any big artistic commitments and decided to write a plan and see if it was viable.

As the plan developed I began looked into funding but was unable to get any applications in as the window was too tight by this time; as I was starting the project 1 Jan 2022 and one of the funding caveats was that any award would have to be before the start of the project, I was too late. With Christmas looming I didn’t pursue alternative funding options- I have no experience in this and ran out of time to do the research. I didn’t want to delay the start of the project, the dates were an integral part of the idea and moving them wasn’t an option. So I gave up on getting any funding at all. Quitter. 

I made a few practical decisions such as keeping the paintings reasonably small which would be key to making the production of the work less time consuming.

I shared the idea with a couple of artist friends, a curator friend, my family and was surprised at the positive response from all of them which in turn gave me more confidence that maybe I could realise it.

Jackson’s Art Supplies gave me some money towards the panels- I spoke to them about the project and as I had been a finalist in their painting prize 2019 they kindly helped me with purchasing the bulk order which was a great help.

You know the old joke about buses all coming at once? As soon as I made a firm decision to realise the project and bought the panels I was approached by a curatorial company about my landscape work and being involved in several projects throughout 2022, an offer I would be daft to turn down quite frankly so happily I signed up.

Adding to my existing commitment to the wonderful Arborealists, for who I am co-curating a big show for April, I became very busy overnight.

Christmas came and went and here was 1 January which was when I began researching the sources I had prepared for stories, images, videos. It was a bit underwhelming actually because of the Christmas period stories were slow to emerge for the first week or so. I was expecting to start with a bang and paint on day one. Manage your expectations well said the buddhism teacher in my head, who is always so bloody right!