Farewell and 'Adieu'

The Winter gets a real hold in January. There are no distractions like the ones that November and December hold. I have been distracting my body by sitting in the sauna in Whitstable watching the Winter sky. On occasions feeling the bite of the wind immersing in the cold, cold sea, if it’s there, and if isn’t not the not quite so cold barrels. I set intentions in  January rather than resolutions and one of those was about giving my painting practise a lot more attention this year. I’m going to make a space specifically for this practise because I feel the need to do this for myself. In recent months I have really got used to printmaking in all its forms of cutting and printing in the gallery which is very public, and this doesn’t feel like the right place to paint. There is so much of myself in the painting process and painting so publicly opens me up for the opportunity for comments which I am ready for when I have finished the process but not when I am in the middle of it. So now I have caused absolute chaos upstairs in my living space to create some calm. As a good friend said when she saw the mess “you have to crack a few eggs”. It’s not ready yet but it is coming. It’s been a good month for painting sales which is another mechanism in motion making way for the new.

'Adieu' on canvas by Jo Oakley

The large painting ‘Adieu’ went off to live with an old Whitstable fishing family which added to the joy of the sale. I’m so connected to those majestic barges and I realise I have used them as a vehicle to express my grief. ‘Adieu’ was about a long relationship moving away, but I was living with the painting which has now moved on. In regard to me, I’m learning to really be alone, which is having a profound effect on my work which is a feeling so energising, even in these dark months.