Cherry Blossom Cards
A set of 5 assorted folded cards featuring the Cherry Blossom paintings.
Cherry Blossoms:
Perspectives of Impermanence primarily represent the transience of life, as the brief blooming period mirrors the short, beautiful, but fleeting nature of human existence. They also symbolize renewal and new beginnings, marking the start of spring. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has celebrated Japanese cherry blossoms since planting its first collection of trees in 1921. While Washington, D.C.'s cherry blossoms are famous, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens holds the nation's most diverse collection, featuring over 200 trees and 42 cultivars of flowering cherries, creating a long-lasting spring display. My artist residency in Brooklyn gave me a new perspective not only on the Cherry Blossoms but also challenged some old, long-held beliefs I had on what it means to be an artist.
The color pink has long been a subject of controversy, with numerous meanings and symbolic interpretations throughout the centuries. In Japan, it is a symbol of masculinity and used for mourning slain samurai; in Korea, it is a sign of trustworthiness, and in China, it symbolizes love, joy, and good luck.
In Japan, there is a legend that each spring a fairy maiden hovers low in the warm sky, awakening the sleeping cherry trees to life with her delicate breath. I love this idea of a fairy maiden waking up the trees each spring.
Paintings for sale
For the Love of Sunflowers
For the Love of Sunflowers 32x40 inches $3840 inches oil on canvas. Proceeds from the sunflower paintings will go to Ukraine refugees World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/ US shipping included. Shipping is included within the US.
St Abigai's Nippon Daisy
24x30 inch titled St Abigai's Nippon Daisy $2100 This painting of Daisies and Bees □ is inspired by St Abigail the patron saint of bees. When I was reading about her I discovered she is known for her miracles in rousting bees from their hives and using them to chase off evil. Some legends claimed that the bees transformed into soldiers, with their hives becoming helmets. Nippon Daisy’s are also deer □ resistant. I happen to see a herd of 9 deer in my neighborhood often. An Angel appeared to Abigail and told her to look for nine white deer and that is where she should make her home. She settled in Ballyvourney, County Cork Ireland. The medicine she made from the honey is believed to have saved the Ballyvourney people from the plague.
Connections in Pink
The Connection series incorporates color, lines, and layers. I strive to create pleasing blends of colors and shapes. I use one line that begins and ends at the same spot, symbolizing eternity. I use the doodles that I draw. Making these doodles calms my nerves. I have done these doodles in my sketchbooks or paper scraps for years. In 2020, when I was staring at the dyed canvases I used as my under-paintings, I was unsure how to proceed with them. I felt the whole world was changing, and my work must change, too. Then I thought about the doodles and decided to add them to the canvas and play with color in those spaces.
With these paintings, I've pushed my work further into abstraction, creating a series that is a testament to our shared humanity. The process of making them is a relaxing, meditative journey. The circles are transparent, opaque, divided, and whole. These shapes represent society—all connected by a single line, yet all unique. The dye is symbolic of the elements of life that are beyond our control. As the dye is poured, It runs and drips where it wants on the surface of the raw canvas—usually taking the path of least resistance. Next, I apply layers of ink, latex house paint, acrylic, and charcoal. The final layer is oil paint.