The
Day
Grace
Kelly
Died

I worked last night at a Wellington central city backpackers' as night porter. It is 9 am on Saturday morning and I am about to go to bed for the day. I am not complaining that I have been up all night. The ability to stay awake becomes a yogic task at times but always with the will of God to the fore, Inshall'ah.

I have to present five or six framed pictures for exhibition and sale at ROAR Studios by next Wednesday (10 June 2009). That is my dilemma.

I have blogged each one except The Day Grace Kelly Died. By blogging I mean exactly what you are reading here on inanga wiremu's blogspot - this sort of thing. The blog. I write the usual guff that is put beside a painting - media used to paint, date completed, who owns it, size, what it is on (canvas, paper, cardboard, etc) and whether or not it is framed. Then I add the events that ran through my collective consciousness as I painted it. What was going on in 3-d at the time?

What harmonic was I listening to when I painted The Day Grace Kelly Died. Was it Bic Runga singing Without You or Suzanne Vega a capella with Diner? It was Karita Mattila singing Bailero from Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne. It had to be one of the above to be fitting of a Princess like Grace Kelly.

I need to consult wikipedia right now to clear up one of my own misconceptions about the death of Princess Grace of Monaco on 14 September 1982 (after a vehicle accident the day before). In the process I found this beautiful eulogy by Jimmy Stewart:

You know, I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own. No question, I'll miss her, we'll all miss her, God bless you, Princess Grace.

I remember painting this piece as it was yesterday and I am helped along by Tina Arena singing Sorrento Moon. I collage the shoreline of Monaco into the centre of the cardboard I am painting on. Another siren beauty, Cleopatra stands watch as the pyramids cut from a previous piece I had painted entitled Painting Johnsonville Red. I'll blog that later, or include it in a Rainbow Series on www.hogproductions.com. Stonehenge creeps in to the right bottom corner, from a painting I did for Stonehenge Aotearoa (near Carterton in the Wairarapa). The sea turns azure blue, the sky is gold and royal purple, the town in the foreground is nephrite green. At the moment of the princess's death God bestows his eponymous Grace in a gold-encrusted paua shell.

What was the misconception I was trying to solve? I mean nothing ill with this. I had been told that Diana, Princess of Wales, had attended the funeral of Princess Grace as the only representative of the British Royal family. I had also been told of the irony of the death of these two princesses. Diana died in 1997 in the now famous vehicle accident in Paris, France. Princess Grace had a stroke, crashed her vehicle in the French countryside, and died the following day.

I hastily framed The Day Grace Kelly Died for exhibition and sale, and I am reasonably happy with the end result. I suggest you Youtube Grace Kelly to see what an incredible actress she was. Her actions on behalf of Josephine Baker were highly commendable and led to them becoming life long friends. I am going to read Princess Grace's full biography because this short journey with her has left me intrigued.

I seem to recall that my friend Miles from Nowhere photographed her when he was with Cecil Beaton. Our Harry Potter Brendon might have told me that, or was he just sharing a wizard's tale at the time. Anyway, if I was a photographer I would have wanted to portray her. I suppose my paints will complete that task for me, God willing.

gold spray paint, collage, gesso, acrylic, watercolour, paua shell (framed by the artist), 2009

Time for this blogger to blog off to bed. Thanks for listening...

inanga