Gleaner or Gladiator: The Struggle to Create

' With a rare gift of pure spontaneous creativity together with a sharp analytical mind and truly generous spirit, the author provides insight into her wonderful spiritual approach to art and strong underlying technical skill'

Lyne Marshall is a contemporary Australian artist whose ongoing research into creative processes has inspired, comforted and supported those who seek to claim artistic vision in a natural, free and innovative way. This book addresses the artistic journey, from study to the studio and on to the gallery, a road often fraught with obstacles. Lyne takes the reader through the physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of creating while pondering on the positive aspects of finding true direction and focus.

Review by Magdalena Ball- author, poet, speaker, radio host Lyne Marshall's artwork is striking. In bold, modernistic strokes, it combines the beauty of nature with a humanistic sense of the greater intensity hidden below the surface of things. Her Gleaner or Gladiator book is an interesting mixture between an art book which showcases her beautiful work - something you could easily display on a coffee table, and a philosophical treatise designed to explore the nature of artistic creation and provide a primer for other artists. As such, it's an unusual hybrid - something not often seen. The book is divided into chapters that focus on different aspects of the artistic process, or issues that confront the artist, from energy and action, to preparation and presentation. There are chapters on such topics as artists' block, synchronicity, perseverance, on using symbols, research, motivation and meaning. Marshall treats these topics in a broad fashion, using them as a springboard to look at her own struggles with these notions and to brainstorm what they might mean in a broader context. Each chapter contains images from her work and the inspiration for her work - the natural world which surrounds her, along with reflections, occasional poetry, quotations, illuminations, and even some suggested activities to inspire particular creativity in this area. Marshall's prose is smooth, and although it has a tendency to switch between first, second and third person, that is, perhaps, the overall intention of the work (as it often is for artwork in general) - to explore the relationship between the personal and the universal: Throughout the book are sumptuous pictures, and there are times when, as viewer rather than reader, I wanted more - a whole page picture (or one of the Terraforme pictures hanging on my wall); a hardcover format that would stay pristine longer; a coffee table book full of nothing but images. The Sub Rosa and Terraforme series are both gorgeous - featuring seascapes and rock formations in natural, vibrant colours that hint at something not easily put into words: the texture and complexity of life below our frame of vision. But reading Marshall's journey from concept to creation is fascinating, and it is certainly of relevance to both the art lover and the artist. She lays her own journey out honestly, celebrating the successes and exploring those areas that didn't work - struggling to create new meaning in both areas through the relationship between words and visual impressions. It isn't always an easy thing to do, but Marshall has produced a work that is an important addition to the aesthetic canon, and a pleasurable read full of both heady insights and lovely images.