SimpleArtForms

There is a reason I return to flowers again and again.

I don’t paint them simply because they are beautiful. Flowers give me a language. Through them I can work with emotions, memories, vulnerability, resilience, joy, and transformation without having to explain any of those things literally.

The same flower can feel completely different depending on color. A deep red can become strength or desire. Purple can feel mysterious and contemplative. Yellow can carry warmth and optimism. Sometimes the flower itself almost disappears, leaving only movement, color, and emotion behind.

That is one of the things I love about working with silk. I can begin with an idea, but I can never completely control where the color will go. The silk participates in the process. Pigments meet, boundaries soften, unexpected shapes appear. I respond to what happens rather than trying to force everything into the image I originally imagined.

Looking through these works together, I realized that they also say something about how I want art to exist outside the studio.

I believe art belongs in everyday life.

Not only in galleries or museums. Not only on special occasions. Art can live in the rooms where we have breakfast, talk with friends, read, work, rest, and simply go about our lives.

A painting changes when it becomes part of a home. And a home changes when art becomes part of it.

Perhaps that is why these three sentences feel so connected to what I make:

Live with art. Live with color. Live beautifully.

For me, “beautifully” does not mean perfectly. It means living with things that make us feel something. Choosing color. Making room for creativity. Surrounding ourselves with objects that have a story, a human touch, and a little bit of soul.

And perhaps, if my flowers could speak, that is exactly what they would say.

#SimpleArtForms