FLOWERS

Understanding my Obsession with FLOWERS

Why do I have this fascination with flowers?

I have always painted flowers. As a little girl I would spend hours with crayons, color pencils, pastels, watercolors, fill in books drawing flowers flowers everywhere flowers! Later as a teenager as I spent countless nights talking on the phone with my BFs doing what? Yes I would doodle Flowers Flowers Flowers on any paper that I happened to have near! I recently read that what you loved to do as a kid, what you could spend hours playing and enjoying you should try that as an adult again. Whether you loved legos and are now an architect, or your loved baking cakes and are a great pastry chef, or like my amazing sewing teacher that has made clothes and sews since she was twelve and still does it and loves it! What gave you pleasure as a kid can give you the same feeling as an adult. I decided to have a go at drawing flowers but since at the moment my preferred medium is Plastic, here are some pictures of my Plastic Flowers!

What do flowers mean to me?

These delicate colorful gifts from nature brings a sense of awe, admiration, warmth and happiness to me. Flowers remind me of the beauty we all poses inside. I find astonishing how you can find beautiful little flowers even in places full of weeds.

My goal is to reproduce the beauty of flowers and nature in my work. What I intend to do is to follow my own aesthetics, what is beautiful, for me! I have decided to fully embrace my little girl within, she is my guiding light! Today I pull out of my tarot deck the Sun card. The images is a child riding a white horse, in the background beautiful sunflowers!  It speaks to me of the joy and fun associated with childhood, the interpretation in the book The Tarot Handbook by Angeles Arrien  says “ All creative processes are a form of play and exploration. It is the divine child within us that is always seeking to express itself in unlimited ways.”  When I am creating that is exactly how I feel: like a kid playing. Light and having fun. I recently told a friend  who asked how I was. I said that I was having the most fun i’ve had in a long time and I think it due to the fact that I have committed to my art process. Every time I walk into my studio I let myself play or explore just to marvel and what may come out! I have no expectations.

I am attracted to the colors of flowers. Maybe that is why I have hundreds of photos of them. They are strong, vibrant yellows, pinks, fuscias, reds and they all yell out to me!  Here are some pictures of the flowers you can see at La Estancia in Caracas, a beautiful garden estate that is a can’t miss on a trip to the capital of Venezuela.

Lately these flowery girly colors constantly appear in my designs! I know they will appeal to little girls!  But I also think there is a crowd of big “girls” who, like me, haven’t been able to let go of this fascination with flowery girly things either!

Many historians have traced flower symbolism through art, poetry, and music in many cultures around the globe. Cultures like the Native American Indians, Egyptians, Greeks, Celts, Japanese and Chinese all have used flower symbols. I am specially attracted to the symbolism associated with the Lotus flower in oriental religions, mainly Buddhism and Hinduism. Lotus as a flower symbolizes the journey and advancement of the soul through the realization of the material world to be one with the supreme soul. They stand for unfoldment of the spirit. They rise from the mud to unfold into the beauty of the lotus flower.

Flowers are often associated with spring and rebirth. They represent renewal, youth and beauty. Flowers are also symbolic of the eternal cycle of life and death. They accompany us in every major event in life: birth, marriage, holidays, graduations, illness, and finally death. I can remember one Valentine’s day when my husband took me to a very expensive fashionable restaurant in Caracas. We ordered as an entry Squash flowers. and although I have forgotten the rest of the nights menu I still remember those squash flowers! I absolutely loved them, they made my Valentines day memorable!

Here in the city of Perth Western Australia currently my home, there is a strong British influence and people have beautiful flower gardens. It is always a great pleasure to walk around an admire all the love that some people put into their gardens!

So where will this fascination with flowers take me? I don’t know but I will happily follow this enticing colorful road adorned with Flowers in hope of the unfoldment and evolution of my art and spirit!