Freudian Early Morning

We wake to the scream of planes directly overhead as they descend towards Sydney airport. I painted the silhouette of a plane with vibrating texture inside our bedroom to convey the feeling of this early morning invasion. The sound of the engine seems to emerge from the throat of the fireplace, its opening mirrored by my husband’s yawn. The window continues to rattle between flights. I pour the tea.

Action is also implied through the cat, her movement captured in a time frame as her head appears round the doorway on one side and her tail disappears through the window on the other. We imagine her crossing the room, pawing the bed, and sniffing the milk carton on the way. The space is extended beyond the picture by the doorway on the right and the cat taking the viewer outside on the left. The eye is brought back into the scene by the inward movement of the curtain caught on a breeze.

I freely applied the cult in Freudian psychology of interpreting shapes as sex symbols such as the phallic early morning erection, teapot spout, nose and cockpit of the plane, while the labia of the fireplace, the chests of drawers, and the slippers evoke female forms. The viewer is invited to find others!