Happiness is a Bouquet of Flowers
The majority of my paintings are from pictures I’ve taken, places I’ve been, or just a feeling in a moment in time where I let my emotions dictate what comes out. But sometimes I’m inspired by something I see online. Maybe a photo a friend or family has shared, or an image I see on a website.
Happiness is a Bouquet of Flowers was such a photo - this bouquet of flowers was one shared by by my gorgeous artist and interior design friend Melinda Bate.
She had expertly put the flowers together and shared it via her Instagram page and I thought how beautiful they were and how much joy they brought me to look at.
I started this piece several years ago and again had set the brushes down. I’d run out of time. I’d run out of inspiration. I had run out of prioritising my art… and this piece had been hanging on my wall for a couple years just waiting to be finished.
So, similar to ‘Bringing the Past Into the Present’, I carried this painting down to my studio in McCrae, with the intentions of reworking it. I had already used a lot of texture on this painting, and it was texturally as close to the palette knife works as any of my previous works have been.
It’s titled ‘Happiness is a Bouquet of Flowers’ because simply put, that’s how I feel.
Flowers make you smile. Bring you joy. My husband says I’m not very sentimental, but I am forever stopping on a walk to take photos of flowers over taking photos of people. 🙃
A bouquet of flowers lifts someone’s heart when they’re feeling sad. It’s a living gift of joy. Though they are edging their way towards the end from the moment they are taken from the ground, in the moment they are purchased, a bouquet of flowers is in it’s full expression of joy… which is kind of how I see myself as I step into this next phase of my life.
Full, joyful, expressive, vibrant, bright, cheerful… and aware that this is just a moment in time and to enjoy it while I can!
These flowers embody the being that I would like to be in this world in this moment. They are my final piece to the Rebel Hearts exhibition which launches 28 Feb 2024 at Red Gallery in North Fitzroy.