Andrea Bolima - October 2022
Melbourne/Naarm-based Andrea Bolima spent some time at the Föenander Residency ahead of the Aotearoa Art Fair 2022 painting new works for the presentation.
It was strange how I easily felt at home on the first night of my residency. It was as if I had stayed there before. There is definitely something calming about being surrounded by a lot of greenery. Everything else changes but nature is always here (well at least for now anyway) and that is comforting enough for me.
I start my day with a cup of coffee then go through my playlist to come up with something to listen to while I paint. It's usually some good old classics like Air, Röyksopp, Massive Attack etc. I then go for a walk in the garden for some inspiration. The garden in Fortland Park is so lush and beautifully maintained. You can see all the colours changing which you can also see in my paintings.
The artist studio in Fortland Park is a painter’s every dream. There are skylights, a sink where you can wash your hands or paintbrush and nice windows that look out to some more greenery.
There are also a few bunny sightings if you're lucky. The first painting I did was Vetiver Lover. There was this beautiful blue lighting in the garden (right after the golden hour) during one of my walks. It was so beautiful I ended up absorbing it like a sponge and then squeezed it onto the canvas the next day.
The residency at Fortland Park allowed me to paint in sync with my circadian rhythm. Looking at Musk at Dusk we can see the different tonal changes that reflect my tonal time structure - how I start the day and how it ends (inside the beautiful French cottage with a rosé).
-Andrea Bolima, notes on residency
