Every summer, I buy myself a bouquet of peonies because I love a big, aggressively colored blossom. Those fresh bouquets bloom and bust within a week, and every day I’m taking lots of photos. I love how they explode open with life and color.

This painting started with one of my photos, but as I worked, I folded in patterns of shapes that the petals make in different stages of opening and wilting. The finished product doesn’t so much feel like a photo as an expression of the joy and heartbreak of their beautiful, and short, lives.

The edges of the canvas are painted a deep purple all the way around.

Patterned Peonies
16” x 20” x 1.5”
Acrylic on canvas, 2024