Vase Vacation 2021

Concentration and making things perfect are diminishing while living in the pandemic. I can't focus on large themes because my general stress level is too high. I paint these florals in the mindset of a vacation from serious painting, an in-the-moment, pressure-free, awake-sleeping wahoo in paint.  The mood is spacy and escapist. The motif is the table, vase, water, and flowers a contained world. Inspired by the brothers Raoul and Jean Dufy’s approach to florals, I make shapes with thick swirling paint and blocky colour patches that are brought into focus with linework on top. These oil paintings on canvas paper and board are improvisations of flowers.  Flowers are gifted to make others feel better, as an act of healing mental health and a demonstration of love. So during this worldwide pandemic, I give you all flowers.