THE ONE THAT STARTED THEM ALL…

After coming out of a trying personal winter season at the start of the year I was feeling completely creatively drained (on top of emotionally, physically, mentally, etc.) and yet needing the comfort and peace that painting provides as an escape of sorts to process it all. After weeks of not having picked up a brush for any new explorations or endeavors and anxiety and uncertainty abound while I dealt with other things going on, I found myself frustrated at striving unsuccessfully to unearth anything new creatively and eventually after many unsuccessful attempts finally retreating back to a comforting favorite, my abstract florals. The familiarity gave me the foundation I needed to regroup and reinvigorate my creativity but this time with the quench to translate them in a new and fresh way. This time much larger, with the subjects slightly more in focus than prior collections and on a deliciously textured handmade cotton rag paper. This painting style and subject exploration is one that I started many years ago in my sketchbooks and for family and friends with the first official collection marking the public start of this venture here. The water marked rendering of each floral “bleeds” colors across the paper holding the tension of the promise of joy and tinge of sorrow in tandem in a hope filled and beautifully delicate way open to many interpretations of the subject at hand.

The abstract watercolor florals were a concept brought out of the inspiration of the cold, grey, and dreary time of year where days on end of snow, rain, and dark and dreary skies eventually give way to beautiful blooms as the first signs of new life begin to emerge all around. The water blurring and obstructing them as if looking through a window pane (hence the square sizes) in the midst of an early springtime shower. Hope in the midst of a storm. The proverbial silver lining. The truth is, I really struggle with winter as a season. On top of that annual generalization, the first quarter of this year was a wild ride right out of the gate of big, scary and course altering fires and little, pestering fires culminating everywhere and before I knew it I was fully engulfed. Tis the ebb and flow of life for sure, but the metaphorical flames left me in a disorienting fog of smoke so thick that made it hard to navigate for a bit as the dust began to settle which is a bit out of my ordinary realm of recall… Spring is by far my favorite of all seasons because of the breath of life it brings and this one was no different, or perhaps, completely different because it lifted me out of that valley with each sweet, intimate God wink and the goodness of hopeful promises all around, even in the midst of it all still. I welcomed a deliberately slow pace of exploration without expectations or agendas and each work of this series came about organically over weeks and weeks as new blossoms bloomed all around and I carefully collected them and filled my studio space with vases of new thing after new thing. Each brushstroke became very meditative and prayerful and it was a real journey of personal growth to paint them all so carefully and intentionally. To focus in intently on the beauty and promise and goodness even in the midst of chaos.

I have held on to them for a while now with no real knowledge of when I would release them or when they would be “done” but the collection finally feels complete, and right, and it is my great joy and honor to share them with you. I hope they bring you the same peace and hope they brought to me and I hope that if they resonate with you you would so kindly share them along with others with my great hope that they eventually reach a special new home of just the right person who needs it.

This collection is done in watercolor on 12” x 12” hand made, acid free, deckled edge paper and will be available Thursday, May 5th at 11AM EST on my website.