Acrylic and large-scale painting are both new to me, and even flowers have not been a frequently-repeated subject in my work until this year. It’s funny how things become a familiar part of your practice. I was hired in early 2019 to paint several murals for a local business, which was my first big dive into acrylic paint. After the murals wrapped up, I wanted to make use of the leftover paint. At the time, my housemate frequently kept floral arrangements around our home, and I found myself snapping pictures of my favorites. Pairing that with some left over paper I had from other large-scale projects, it was the perfect set up for some big, acrylic bouquets.
Flowers ended up being a good subject; they are consistent but can still be different with every painting (plus they’re beautiful!). Having a queue of pictures saved in my phone made it easier to worry less about starting out into new territory, finish one, start the next, and just keep painting, even when I was still adjusting to the new medium.
I’m a big symbolism person. I love finding and creating layers of meaning in unexpected habitats. My journey with floral paintings progressed in tandem with life’s low points, growing pains, and hard days. It made sense to me, and added a tender dimension to my series, to inspire each piece after seasonal life mantras and timely conversations with wise friends and trusted advisers.
Drink Milk and Kick Ass
These flowers became reminders of strength, resilience, and capability in a way that I loved. It’s odd, yet so fitting, that these flowers could be bold messengers, being tender, fuzzy things themselves.
I think we all need to encounter beauty. To see and touch and be surrounded by beauty is crucially connected to our health in everyday life, but also through the discomfort of growing and changing and becoming new people. I believe it’s particularly important when we walk through pain. Scaffoldings of beauty can keep us more anchored in the midst of grief and disorientation than we would be otherwise. In recent years I’ve relied more heavily on my art to be this kind of cushion for me.
These paintings could serve as pages from a journal, a graph of my mental and emotional growth over time. They are the botanical retelling of life lessons and prayers and “what-the-hells?!” They remind me (and hopefully permit others) to hope for growth and healing and more beauty. Flower paintings are beautiful all on their own, but the kind and brave words they carry add more.
Dont’ Let What is Untrue Freak You