“For Now” 8×8, oil on canvas
This month I keep turning to flowers when I’m not sure what comes next. They are the perfect playground for texture and color. They are a relief from studying the exact shape and form of something because they need not be precise.
My favorite part in today’s piece is the vase, which I made up entirely. I wanted stripes. I wanted dark blues and grays and light blues and bright whites.
Sometimes I use stripes in my paintings to suggest a sense of imprisonment, in this case, to time. I like to think of it in terms of contrast– the fresh beauty of the flowers against the shadow of their impermanence, caged always by time, which, strangely, seems to make them all the more beautiful.
All my paintings from the month will be available February 3 at the gallery and online February 6.
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Written by Denise Hopkins
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