“And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.”
~The Secret Garden, by Frances Hogdson Burnett
A well-loved book in my childhood,The Secret Gardencame to life for me - visually, at least - in a beautifully captured movie (the 1993 film with Dame Maggie Smith).Side note: isn't it amazing when a beloved story becomes even more real once we can see it thoughtfully portrayed on screen?
One of the scenes fromThe Secret Garden that I still think of - even 32 years later - is when 12-year-old Dickon cuts a seemingly dead branch in the walled garden, showing that it's still green inside full of life after all. It was just dormant, not dead.
And after lots of loving care, the garden comes back: colorful, thriving, and full of life.
And so, too, can our lives be hidden gardens: that we might hide for a while, away from the world - and often for good reason. But both because of and despite the rain, we can still come back blooming and run joyfully through our thriving garden.
After nearly 4 years, I am finally re-exploring florals in a full collection!
Layered and drippy, these pieces are loose, painterly encapsulations of floral still lifes, bursting and alive with color and movement.
I have enjoyed the blooming of spring right beside the creation of these paintings, and I am excited for them to bring you as much joy as they have brought me.
It started with a collage: a festivity of blue and white. The Blues Collection is an exploration of the color blue, a celebration of historical ceramics, a communion of texture and line, and a little bit of letting go.
