Paintings

A major part of my journey as an art major at Brevard College was creating a professional body of artworks for a senior art gallery.  Each of my painting classes throughout my college career was geared toward the preparation of this exhibition; exploring all types of painting until I was finally able to choose and focus on what I like best- abstract expressionism and flowers! 

For this exhibition, I chose to do seven large paintings (each work on a 4 foot tall hand-built canvas) and focus on flowers which had some sort of meaning to me or spoke to me in some way. I had about four months to complete this body of work.  The semester had it's ups and downs, but I loved every second of it and grew so much as an artist! 

Here are the images of all of my paintings from this body of work!  I hope you enjoy!

Featuring cosmos flowers, this painting is probably my favorite (it's so difficult for me to choose!) and is titled "Be Always Blooming" (inspiration for my blog!) 

"Among the Wildflowers" features a field of echinacea flowers, goldenrod, and a small sunflower.

I chose to include a magnolia in my body of work because I was born in Mississippi and magnolias are the Mississippi state flower!  This painting is full of contrast and came together at a much faster pace than the other paintings because of the way this flower connected with the space so organically.  It's title: "Too Much Love in this Mississippi Heart" is inspired by a classic country song that seemed perfect to me.
**This painting is for sale, I'd love for you to contact me for more info!

Sunflowers are my absolute favorite flower, so painting this was just a joy!  This painting has a Spanish inspired title, "Flor del Sol," since my grandfather was a Spanish teacher and helped me grow my first sunflowers in our sweet little garden together when I was younger.

Here's one of my favorite pictures of us together that proved to be so inspiring throughout my painting process for this senior exhibition:

Sunflowers have had me hooked ever since we had them in our garden!  And boy did I just absolutely love my grandfather "gaga" too :)  

 Lily of the valley flowers were my gaga's favorite flowers, so this painting received a Spanish inspired name as well: "Lirio de los Valles." This painting is very vibrant and features a variety of softer, pastel colors.
**This painting is for sale, I'd love for you to contact me for more info!

"Oh! Susanna" is my painting featuring the black eyed susan flowers.  My title is inspired by a fun little bluegrass song that I hope to learn to play on my banjo one day!  This painting now hangs in its new home at my Nana's house :)

This painting features zinnia flowers and is fully layered with warm yellows and orange shades.  The title, "Pickin Flowas," was inspired by my childhood pronunciation of the word flower.
**This painting is for sale, I'd love for you to contact me for more info!



Part of the exhibition process also included writing an artist statement which explains a little bit more about my choices, inspiration, and processes of painting these giant flowers:

With a central interest in abstract painting, I have focused on color, surface, organic form, and the visual language of paint.  Incorporating flower shapes and other aspects of the natural world help structure my abstract art and communicate something near to my heart.  This relationship with nature, specifically flowers, began in childhood as I learned to garden with my grandfather.  My mother and I always found pleasure in photographing fields of flowers as well, for as long as I can remember.  These sweet memories of flowers, people, and more have captured a piece of my soul and always motivate me.  As a painter, I enjoy creating my own abstract gardens on the canvas in order to communicate vivacity and continual growth.  

Moreover, I strive to express a positive and lively sentiment within my paintings.  The way in which I am working involves a plan, however, I allow for spontaneity to play the main role.  This allows me to reach new places of my inner being and bring that liveliness into my paintings.  Color proves to be one of my biggest motivations; therefore, I strive to use unique color tones and pairings including neutrals to introduce dimension and depth. 

Throughout the course of my artistic journey, I have found many other artists’ work to be helpful in my own.  Abstract expressionist artists Hans Hoffman and Cy Twombley have provided inspiration for me in structure and texture, while modern abstract artists Ruth Ava Lyons and Liu Hung put a new twist on both the textural and subject matter of paintings which prove to be most helpful for me in my own work. 

From my research, a deep desire to highlight the intensity of my paintings through the atmosphere I create has been done using loose layers, dripped paint, and other textural qualities.   All of these elements help increase depth and provide a sense of space and mystery.  I feel as though these aspects of painting allow me to express myself in the most appropriate way by communicating energy, movement, vividness, and atmosphere.

My artist statement hung in the gallery next to one of my paintings so that everyone who attended could enjoy!  Visitors to the gallery on opening night also enjoyed a gallery talk speech given by each of the artists in the exhibition (I shared my senior exhibition with four other FABULOUS artists and friends: a sculptor, two graphic designers, and one other painter and sculptor, all who have amazing artwork.  Sharing this gallery with them was a true privilege!)



I hope everyone has enjoyed learning more about this body of works!  If you'd like your own customized flower painting in my abstract style, please feel free to contact me so we can work out a deal.  I'd love to work with you!

Although this exhibition was earlier in April of this year, these paintings still serve as a background and basis for all the current art I am working on now.  :)

Also, I'm considering having prints made of these paintings to sell and would love to know what you all think!  Which paintings would you like to see as prints?  Any suggestions or feedback is welcome!  Comment with your thoughts :)