It’s no secret that the five years I lived in Whitianga changed the shape of my life. I moved in 2012 to be administrator for Mercury Bay Art Escape, a decision that set me on the path to become the full-time artist, author, teacher and speaker that I am today.
I was coming out of an intensive period as director of Morrinsville Art Gallery and shifting to the Coromandel Peninsula gave me space to return to my own art practice while exploring a new part of the country. I started a series of illustrative ‘diary paintings’ that were published in Coromandel Life magazine, eventually helping me to fulfil a long-held dream of writing a book filled with my artwork (Wandering Under Big Skies, 2015).
Alongside my own art practice, I was able to establish regular drawing classes in Whitianga, helping me to develop (and pass on) my own skills while nurturing the rich seam of creativity within the community.
As my own artistic endeavours unfurled from our South Highway home – with more roller-coaster ups and downs than I was expecting – I discovered that my paintings were revealing uncomfortable emotional truths that I hadn’t yet been prepared to consciously address. Dark ‘grabbing’ trees helped explain an uneasy feeling of being trapped and anxious; bold self-portraits depicting myself breaking free from the canvas (or cowering in the shadows) explained an agitation, tension and increasing fearfulness. It wasn’t until we moved to New Plymouth late in 2017 that I could see with any perspective the remarkable personal journey that had been initiated, and as I began speaking about it to groups, I understood how universal my experiences were.
I ran full-time drawing and acrylic painting classes from my home in Taranaki for nearly three years, and then during lockdown – having discovered I had successfully emerged from decades of fear, anxiety and continual bad health – I was able to commit my story to print, sharing this tale of positive change with anyone needing encouragement. Seeing Clearly – finding the courage to choose a better path (2022) is a self-help book combined with an artist’s autobiography and forms the basis for my ongoing work. My own painting style continues to evolve – I enjoy working as a realist painter when doing native birds, while preferring the texture and expressive qualities of a looser palette-knife style for my imagined landscapes – and now…
I recognise that my art practice reflects what’s happening within me, I can observe with curiosity what spills onto the canvas.
One of the most significant (and most loved) paintings of my career so far is Drawing Breath, a portrait of my mother that I did in Whitianga. The story around the painting – including the experience of my mum’s anorexia – is captured in an episode of ‘Seeing Clearly with Charlotte Giblin’ on my YouTube channel. Here, I can bring the book to life via video, in the hope that sharing my experiences can continue to create connection, contemplation and conversation.
YouTube: Charlotte Giblin Art
Instagram: @charlottegiblinart
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