Arrangement with Passion Flowers, Thorns, and Moth with a Butterfly Vase. This painting represents juxtapositions and cyclical occurences between relationships of opposites. It depicts the Native Maypop passionflower with dried thorns of a Bouganvillia vine arranged in a vase decorated with Butterflies. The Moth in the foreground flew into my studio, landed, and died on a painting hanging on the wall. It is a sphinx moth, not the typical moth attracted to Passionflowers. The symbolism of moths and butterflies overlap in part yet one represents emotive energy of night and one of day. This work is part of a series of 12 paintings that I began during the pandemic inspired by flowers that I planted in my own garden. “This current series of pandemic paintings celebrate the local flora of New Orleans and the Gulf South. Small gems of color, these compositions present blooms of the southern garden with generations of vessels and objects collected around the world. The intersection of atmosphere with an object and how we perceive the accompanying relationships of value, color and form allow endless contemplation. The simple beauty that surrounds us exists anywhere we look if we open our senses; in flowers, colors of the air, the light or darkness of the sky. As we allow the experience of inspiration we enter a unique intersection between art and reality. These intersections are abstract, infinite, and come alive through a dialogue of differences. “
