Special Artwork Experiences - Flourishing with Beauty

For the past year and a half, I have been working on a very large mural. The commission took all my time and energy. During that time, I developed ideas and studies that stayed with me. After finishing the mural, I held onto many of those ideas, and this is how Whisper was born.

Whisper is exactly what the title suggests. The painting is soft. Doves fly from the girl’s hands as a metaphor for something bigger than herself, and for faith and the future. Patched into the background are small suggestions of birds in 24-karat gold, a motif drawn from my commission. I hope you find your own meaning in it and enjoy the show. Thank you for listening.

Two paintings, two very different approaches, both with the goal of flourishing with beauty for this special show. Glorious Bouquet started as an entirely abstract painting, exploding with color and energy. I used mostly the palette knife for the background, then slowly pulled flowers out of the chaos with delicate brushwork. Music is always ever-present when I’m painting, and it has to be right. For this painting, I listened to the new album by Brandi Carlile and Elton John, and interspersed my favorite Broadway tunes — that always gets me going.

By contrast, my painting Formality was a slower, more deliberate process, where I painted each flower methodically and calmly. Starting with the big shapes and working toward detail, it just demanded the look of a very formal floral. For this, I calmed it down — listening to favorite Romantic and Latin music, Renée Fleming, and favorite Jackson Browne, John Lennon, and Paul Simon tunes. These two paintings took me most of the summer to complete, but oh, how I loved painting them. Thank you for listening.

Evening Graze. This old barn, this grand old barn, unique in my eyes for being three stories tall, weathered, and wonderful…

Listen on Spotify
Open Spotify on your phone, tap the camera icon in the upper-right corner, and scan the code below to play the featured song.

Summer Coda. Wildflowers, especially wild sunflowers, feel like old friends to me…

Listen on Spotify
Open Spotify on your phone, tap the camera icon in the upper-right corner, and scan the code below to play the featured song.