Flowers. That's a good place to start. Everyone loves them. This particular rose is one that my very special friend grew and gave to me. Even though it is long gone, I have the photo to remember it by.
Most artists probably painted or otherwise created flowers at least once in their lives. In fact we all fall back on nature. What else are you going to paint? Soup cans? Of course there are people and animals, but I would say they are nature, part of the natural world. I've thought about painting buildings, but I usually wind up back at flowers.
Here at Spanish Village there are lots of flowers, mostly the ones that grow up from the succulents that rim the patio. Most of their flowers are small and sedate. But the succulents and their flowers are wonderful for artists, all of them unusual shapes.
I know they influence my work. I can paint green shapes and purple shapes that are suggestive of flowers and they will be instantly recognizable. A botanist would look down his nose at them, but they're more interesting, sort of abstract, but not exactly.
And of course flowers represent sex. Oh, should I say procreation? The plant with the brightest, sexiest flower survives. Darwin thought so. He collected and drew hundreds of plants. I too find them sexy, erotic, sensuous, symbols of love and its attendant sex. As humans and as artists, we look to nature for answers to our own questions. How do other creatures deal with life?
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