Bright Beginnings Collection

Woo, dropped off with the blog posts for a bit there. Ever since I was officially accepted into my first art fair, the Downtown Sykesville Art and Wine Fest, I've been fully immersed in not only figuring out all that is needed to set up an art booth, but also trying to create a collection of originals to potentially sell. So much has happened that it's been tough to pause and write about it, but I'm taking a moment to share about what's happening in the studio lately.

My last collection, Rise and Radiate, was focused around resilience and perseverance when hard things happen in life. My inspiration was my local domestic violence shelter, and wonderful collectors have allowed me to be able to make a donation with every sale. Four pieces of that collection remain available - two are displayed at a local home design business, Railey Design Furniture, and two are at The Gallery Shop in Oakland, MD. As a side note, the two at The Gallery Shop were my first successfully juried pieces! It's fun to know those are out and displayed in my community.

That being said, I needed to create more art! I began my current collection in earnest, mainly focused on the art fair, but I lacked focus and intention around choosing my subjects, color palettes, and process. I started anyway, and through the magic of art, by creating I became inspired. Here was one of my first pieces in this new collection, a 24"x36" that I eventually titled Petal & Purpose.

Petal & Purpose

Two things happened after I finished this piece. First, I realized I had more to say about holding out hope when things are hard, which led me to seek my next organization to which I'd like to make donations from any sales. I settled on another local organization, the House of Hope, which focuses particularly on helping the vulnerable when all other options have been exhausted. They also operate several food pantries in my region. So that inspired all of my titles and my continuation of nature-themed symbolic representations of ideas like working together, holding out hope, and blooming amidst chaos. These are all themes that I have personally internalized because of my own hard times. We all have them, don't we? But nature is a God-given gift, and I believe it holds so much wisdom from which we can glean. So the title of this latest collection is Bright Beginnings. The second thing that this piece inspired was a new feature in my process - the white botanicals. I've added them to every painting since this piece in varying degrees, and I can't get enough of them. I don't think I've seen it elsewhere, so it feels like something unique to me, and I think they add so much beauty and balance to my compositions.

I had another major success recently as well that I plan to tell you all about, but it's going to have to wait for the next chance I get to write. For now, I'm off to paint! Hopefully spring has made its way to you and you're enjoying some sun and new blooms. Be well.