Flowers of course are a classic source of inspiration, especially in the arts of personal adornment and decoration. But I make a point of asking myself now and then why I am drawn to the forms and motifs I use over and over again.. It helps me to do things in a thoughtful and deliberate way, and to understand myself what I’m trying to say with my work.

I can’t always articulate my motivations in a way that satisfies me, but I do think I understand where I’m coming from with florals.

With me it’s not so much a fascination with Nature itself that draws me to its forms and colors. It’s more the fact that Nature never gets it wrong. You don’t look at a plant and say, ‘Well, those leaves are just the wrong green for that pink.” Do you? So keeping in mind the combinations I’ve actually seen is really helpful. And when a composition needs an additional color, some shade of green or yellow is almost always the answer, just as those colors are present on most flowering plants (the ones I’m familiar with, anyway).

In a less concrete way, flowers inspire me to think of the passage of time. They are constantly changing, from bud to seedhead, and especially in larger pieces I like to represent the different phases of the flower. The form of a piece can express the outward movement of petals from bud, or recall the pleasing proportions of a blooming branch.

In my mind, growth=movement=time passing. Now, I am not about to start throwing memento mori all over the place, skulls aren’t really my thing. But time, and thoughts of history and the past, have always held a fascination for me. I’m never happier than when wandering old streets or ruins. Well, maybe on the slopes, but think about it—what is more ephemeral than snow? It’s changing all the way down from the sky, and every second it’s here on the ground.

This is where I run up against the roots of motivations, and those are hard to articulate. I’ll keep working on it.

In the meantime, speaking of time, here I’ve played with the speed of a video to show you how I have painted up a batch of silk flower pieces to use in art projects. I’ve listed them in packs HERE, and used them myself in many pieces available in the Collection.