THE MAKING OF MS. DIMPLEDUST
Self portrait, monotype 2020
Intuitive Abstract Painting
The Paradox of Painting. Painting is what gets me into flow state, and when I’m in flow state, it is the reason why I can paint intuitively. Painting intuitively in flow state raises my vibration, which translates into or onto the painting. Therefore, the viewer of the painting can tap into and receive the high vibrations that I felt when creating the work. When a person is drawn to my painting, that is why. There is great benefit to viewing high vibration art.
Being the artist, I am a vessel, a translator of feeling that comes through from spirit, from source, from a higher power or consciousness. Without painting, I cannot reach flow state, and without flow state, I can’t paint intuitively. Without intuition, there is no higher consciousness. It is the absence of thinking about the painting that allows the feeling of the painting to come through. Rules are not followed. If I were to think about rules, I would drop out of flow state and then create a rather ordinary painting.
Flow like a Waterfall
I first began watercolour painting when I was broken. It was in 2015 that I reclaimed my independence after enduring and surviving a domestic violent relationship for eighteen months in total with a narcissist and disgustingly abusive alcoholic. I was an empty shell. All of my self had been depleted. Through the consistent pressure cooker of lies, deception and gaslighting, my reality was distorted. Even after going through a domestic violence shelter for women and children to get away from him, the tie to him was still toxically holding. When a narcissist bleeds a soul dry so that they don’t even take their own breathe, they will remain attached to their narcissist for air. It took the police to take out their own dv order against him, for the end to come, slowly. He still came back, and I hid him. I still protected him. Until, I didn’t. Parts of my soul started to return. Parts of me that knew what had happened, and knew that I was made for so much more than this. Spirit was leading me to freedom. One day, I had an impulse to buy watercolour. It was odd, because I thought to myself, why would I want to do that? My only experience with watercolour was from primary school with the watery goo palette and red paint brush set everyone used on newsprint, that buckled. But, I was following my guidance so I did a google search of watercolour and saw some awesomeness! Bright and dense colours and creative brush work. Intuitive and expressive paintings from the medium. I read about tubes of watercolour and decided to order a couple from M. Graham, a brand that used honey as their binder. The first colours I ordered were payne’s grey and Quinachridone rust. There was nothing watered-down about this medium. It was rich and intoxicating. The way the water burst open the pigment and how the pigments danced around the page and either mixed or repelled with the one next to it. It was addictive and exhilarating and it fed my soul. I was entering a state of meditation, though I didn’t exactly know it at the time. But later, I began to recall that I could get into a meditative state and go for minutes, even more than an hour without thinking of the repetitive, PTSD thoughts I was suffering from. Below, are some of the first musings I ever did in watercolour with my payne’s grey and quin rust.
Healing Words and Abstract
Part of my journey to healing was using words in my art. I felt like the words, and their meanings, embodied the artwork and creating the artwork around the words and then viewing it after, contained the strength in the words. I have a video I made of myself back then. I was calling myself Zoe Irene. I was trying to create a new identity. I’ve been doing that for a long, long time.
Ten Years of Experimentation and Joy
I have painting every day for the past 10 years, almost. Their have been a few days in which I was too sick, or busy moving, but mostly, it has been my morning ritural. I like to wake up and plug-in. I have done a few representational pieces here and there of subjects. To me, the blobs that I paint were beautiful, but nothing. It wasn’t until I went took art history in Uni during covid that I learned that history, and how Kandinsky was the first person to paint ‘nothingness’ and only his feelings. I connected with him right away. That’s what I do! For the first time, I had a connection to a past artist. I have a funny story. I visited my birthplace in October and I hadn’t seen my family in the past 8 years. I was visiting with my Mom and sister in my sisters house. I had bought my Mom some watercolours and paper and I was so thrilled to be painting with her the first time. I showed her how I splash and make blobs of colour, and I had one page and i thought she would give it a go. However, I don’t think she could let herself go. She began to paint flowers. She asked me what it was that I did. She wanted a name for it. I said, I just paint how I feel. For paintings sake. For the joy of it. I said, if I had to call it anything I guess I would say it is abstract. That is when my sister interjected from across the room. The ‘art teacher’ in her had to set me straight. To correct me. She got a piece of paper and drew an object. I think it was building, i can’t quite remember the exact object. But then she showed in the next picture the object drawn into a picture with only a couple lines and a shape. She then declared that, abstract is an ‘abstraction’ of a real object depicted with only a few lines or simple shapes. I realise that is Picasso’s type of abstraction, not Kandinsky’s. She said that the only title for my painting was ‘non-representational’. She said it as if I needed to add ‘crap’ to the end of it. I love my sister, I really do. I don’t mind that she didn’t get it. It prepares me. Many of the world won’t get it. For those that do though, it will be a blessing to them.
For the past ten years i have been plagued with perfectionism. not good enoughness. Inability to share. All of my musings and papers are in boxes. I’ve painted on both sides of almost all of them. During covid I worked as an Uber driver. One day I picked up a guy, with his friend, and he was a real Aussie larequin. Drunk and a bit of a flirt, but seemed like a nice guy. I had not been social in a very long time, just a Momma fox in her fox hole with her cub, who was now a teenager. So, when he asked me to come over, the part of me missing having friends overcame the hermit. It didn’t take long for us to talk about art. Who knew that he was an art lover. I felt safe showing him some of the snaps i had on my phone. One of them in particular he loved. He looked at them for a long time. He said part of why he loved it so much is he wasn’t able to name it. It’s style. It’s category. Where it belonged. He asked me how much it would cost to part with it. I had no idea. I’d never sold anything before, or even shown it. So, he came back with $250 cash and asked me if that would be ok. I was delighted with the cash. I was broke and it was a blessing. It made me feel good that someone liked it. He asked me to write on it that it was the first painting I ever sold.
The Story of my name
I was born Michelle Irene Powell. At age 19, I changed it to Zoe Michelle Irene Powell. I wanted to give myself a new identity. To brake the chains. To be authentic to the best version of myself. I adore Pink and Lady Gaga. they are my girls. I envy that they have a degree of separation from their given birth names and the name of their artistic entity human. I wanted that. Not to be who I am not, but the freedom to propel up to be the highest version of my self, and not caught up in the cord of remembrance of who I have been, and my limitations. I can remember the day still, when I was walking with my baby in Perth, and I got the name Dimpledust for him. I didn’t realise it at the time, but it was a download from source. I was looking at his smile, and smiles typical produce dimples. so I was saying in my mind dimples… and I was trying to pair it with words. then I heard the word ‘dust’ I put it together, Dimple dust. Immediately I knew that was it! And I called him my little Luke Dimpledust from then on. I am his unmarried Mother, therefore the societal Ms. is my legal title. So, I am Ms. Dimpledust.
Now. The Time is Now.
It is like a rocket has shot off. Planets have come into alignment. I have an urgency to share. I have a desire unlike I’ve ever had to create from a high vibration. I’ve awakened. I’m free. I am not afraid right now to share about my domestic violence experience, or to share the artwork that I created since then. It is all part of my story and all of it has made me the light being that I am today. Choosing to be free. Choosing Joy. Choosing the heaven and the beauty on this earth rather than the pain and suffering and lower vibrations. In the past, I have played around, inviting Davinci in for the day to work through me. I think it is possible, do you? Are you free Picasso? Kandinsky? Monet?