GeaAusten

.so this is about me..I have always painted,taken photos ..and I have done fractals since before I joined DA.

I have always loved Nature... and feel strongly about preserving it... as in not using chemicals and pesticides , generally..

I especially like Butterflies, this is a lifelong thing..when I was small I used to go to Italy a lot, a place called Viterbo , I remember walking in to a meadow and hundreds of Butterflies flew up, it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen .

I lived in Melbourne for a few years and loved it, but had to come back to the U.K.

my parents were intellectuals from quite poor backgrounds,

my father made the first Peace /CND badges..

he lectured as a senior lecturer in education at Goldsmiths College.

my Mum worked for the man who founded Amnesty International.

There used to be little newsgroups on the Internet and I belonged to them.

In between I spent years doing Tarot card counselling and was on the radio up to three times a week for over five years..doing live readings,I think the first person to do that.

The Radio actually forbids what they call "Divination" so it has to be made light hearted.

I gave someone the winning Lottery numbers and it meant I went on TV etc.

newspapers..

I returned to Art as it was something I have always loved.

my most recent endeavor has been gold leaf.. I have been teaching myself how to use it for three years , from youtube videos, and finally can now do it ..

its very beautiful to look at and reminds me a lot of the wonderful Renaissance Art.. also Klimt of course..

I love DA ... and have made many very good friends here, something I value a great deal

Gea

My father made the first Peace/C.N.D. badges , I was with him helping him chose which design to use.. as a child prodigy I started painting when I was very young, but have never really been commercial.. but now I want the world to see my art..Someone asked me if I had ever put the CND sign in one of my designs//I have once,,

but I have a very different attitude to it than I think a lot of peope would expect,

My father was a real Purist,,

he loved simplicity, and black and white,

,. when the whole Peace movement developed,,

many years later, he absolutely winced at what was done to the sign

,, the embellishments of all kinds..

so I think I have copied him, we were extremely close,,

and I worshipped him..

he taught me to draw and paint ,, from when I was three,, and we used to sit together when he was making his pottery and talk about what he would do next.. and different designs etc. I have always felt the simplicity of the design is very beautiful,,, and enough in itself.. I'm glad the Peace movement have embraced the sign, and that people have made it their own.. the extraordinary popularity of the design is due to something I believe is quite sacred ... Gea Austen.

THE FILM ;THE SYMBOL OF PEACE'

vimeo.com/53623449