My inspiration for my art is, well, the plants, the plants, the plants! Drawing the plants in my garden has given me a new appreciation and connection to nature that I just never understood or noticed when I was younger. There's a whole world just outside my door that is alive and thriving and somehow, it always seems to be reflecting something going on in my own personal life. Once I started really looking, the more there was to see - and paint!For me, painting plants is really about feeling connected to our planet - to the food we eat, the flowers that bloom and then fade, and the changing seasons. It's very grounding and gives me perspective and hope. We live in a busy world, with stuff coming at us all the time, and I take comfort in the fact that, no matter what, my daffodils will be up in the spring, and there will be apples to eat in the Fall. However, gardening and nature isn't always a blissful party of beauty! There is as much struggle as there is victory. There is disease and disappointment too, but all of that seeps into my paintings as well and are often my favourite pieces.
To create my paintings I use acrylic paint on wood panel, or watercolour paints with coloured pencils on paper. It really depends on the size of the piece and the subject matter I'm doing but I really enjoy them all. I also love the beauty and simplicity of sketching with graphite on paper and plan on doing a series of drawings soon too.
I have a small studio that I do my work in... well it's not really a studio, it's more of a nook... in my kitchen. It's simple, but it has everything I need including great light. And I swear the simplicity of it keeps me focused and makes me get to it. Besides, it's easy to paint a bit every day when everything is sitting right there in your kitchen!