Passion Flower

This is a new small painting I just completed of a passion flower. I find the structure and design of this flower totally amazing, I just had to paint one. A few things you might not know about them . The leaves are said to have an antidepressant affect. I know that looking at one has that effect on me! Another very interesting fact about the passion flower and it's relation to "The Passion" of Christ. The "Passion" in "passion flower" does not refer to sex and love, however, but to the passion of Jesus in Christian theology. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries adopted the unique physical structures of this plant, particularly the numbers of its various flower parts, as symbols of the last days of Jesus and especially his crucifixion:
• The pointed tips of the leaves were taken to represent the Holy Lance.
• The tendrils represent the whips used in the flagellation of Christ.
• The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles (less St. Peter the denier and Judas Iscariot the betrayer).
• The flower's radial filaments, which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, represent the crown of thorns.
• The chalice-shaped ovary with its receptacle represents a hammer or the Holy Grail
• The 3 stigmas represent the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the 5 wounds (four by the nails and one by the lance).
• The blue and white colors of many species' flowers represent Heaven and Purity.

This painting is 8x10 painted with acrylics on stretched Cotton and linen. For Sale in my Etsy shop

Ode to Pablo

I decided to work with some more primary colors. I have had a long time love/ hate relationship with red. This painting is 11x14 and will be coming with me Saturday to the exhibit in New York.

Obviously, big fan of Picasso. This piece is somewhat of a self portrait. I enjoyed creating all the fine detail involved here.

Borrowed and Blue

I am really loving this blue lately. Here is another piece 11x14 done with acrylics on stretched canvas. The sides have been painted so no frame is needed but I feel my work looks so lovely when you frame it right. I actually enjoy framing. The story here is that his gal in the mirror is getting married in Manhattan. She is trying on her gown and her mother has left her something borrowed, pearls, and the room is of course blue.

Ode To Henri

"It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else."
Henri Matisse. It's no secret that Matisse is one of my favorite artists. I love everything about his paintings and I draw much of my inspiration from them. This 16x20 painting is my newest piece. Available for sale in my Etsy shop.