Floral Frenzy: The Story Behind the Piece

Every painting has somewhat of a story connected to it.  The creation of the piece is very much driven by a memory, an emotion, a link to that image from myself.  I painted Floral Frenzy in approximately 2006.  It was very interesting to me that it started with colors, and the more they blended, the more muted they became.  At the same time, it began to take on a whole new characteristic of it's own.  The petals represented a flower blowing in the warm summer breeze, and trying to entice butterflies or bees to land on them.  It's amazing at the activity you see by watching one flower in the course of an afternoon.  The canvas on this painting was a 30 x 40, and the characteristic of the flower was 3/4 of the canvas.  Even though not brightly colorful, the painting still took on an inherent beauty of its own. 

"Floral Wind"

 



Several times, I had inquiries about this painting at several shows, but never had anyone purchase it until the UW Eye Clinic in Madison was doing a boardroom remodel and decided this would be one of six total purchased for the project.  It is an honor and a privilege to have my paintings associated with this facility.  To me, it's ironic how things come full circle, as UW eye clinic was one of the places since 1985, I had testing done before becoming legally blind. 

To this day, I'm not really sure what variety the flower this is, nor the name of the bush that they grew on.  However, it's things like this that catch my interest and inspires me to put them on canvas.  A moment in time captured forever, and a memory that will not fade. 

You too can have a piece of this memory, as this piece will soon be available on BlindGuyStudios.com as an 8x10 print.  It'll be hand-signed by me, and ready for matting and framing to present in your home. 

Critique and Criticism

It's been my experience in the past, whether it be an art show that I attend, or just have my paintings featured in, that everyone has an opinion.  These opinions are something that I treasure, good, bad, or otherwise.  Ten people viewing the same piece of art see it in ten different ways.  This to me is amazing, and one of the reasons I shy away from titling or pushing too much of my interpretation into a piece.  The feedback I receive continually helps me to grow as an artist, and challenges me to find new ways to apply the oils to the canvas.  I'm continually looking for new and exciting ways of accomplishing a piece of artwork.

 I welcome criticism, constructive or not, because the opinions voiced leads me to greater expectations of myself.  One of the only ways to grow as an artist is to get your work out there.  You'll find ways to improve it, and to try new things.  Not everything works.  Not everything is perfect.  Not everything is going to be liked by everyone.  Sometimes controversy or the shock factor is what gets you  noticed.  Being legally blind and having my perspective skewed due to the lack of visual acuity, I am continually interested in how the sighted world views my art.  How they see things, though not intentional, show up in some of my work. 

In one of my past floral paintings, my mother in law swore that beneath one of the flower petals was a dwarf peering out at the viewer.  Again, this was not intentional, but if a sighted person says it's there, I'll take their word for it!  Another happy accident.