A Respite of Flowers: still lifes from a pandemic year of gardening

During the pandemic, my garden has been a respite and an ever-changing source of inspiration.  As a figurative painter and portraitist, I once had many opportunities for drawing and painting from live models, all within a short radius of my studio.  But with life drawing sessions cancelled and the opportunities for portrait sittings greatly reduced, my garden became my primary source of living subjects. This year, as seeds and tubers, bulbs and bare roots reached their promised, but still thrilling, potential, every new bloom was cause for minor celebration.  I’ve approached this loose collection of paintings of garden flowers as portraits.  The flowers are posed with objects from my home, objects that reappear, but with a fresh sensibility through juxtaposition with the blooms.  Flowers are so laden with associations from art, literature, history, and personal experience that each one seemed to impose an atmosphere of its own as I painted.  As in my portraits, I’ve tried to catch the unique character of each subject.  The collective noun I’m proposing for a group of flowers, and the title for this continuing series, is a respite: a respite of flowers.

My series of 17 still life paintings will be on exhibit and available for sale alongside some exquisite paintings by Stratford artists Eric Beddows and Mike Karn at Village Studios, 24 Downie St, Stratford, Ontario from September 25th, 2021.