The Memory of Wildflowers
30"x 12”, The Memory of Wildflowers, 2023
Artist Statement
This painting is an artifact of a profound personal moment, born from the convergence of a natural spectacle and a quiet anniversary. The year 2023 marked a decade since I moved to California from Canada, and as if to celebrate, the landscape erupted into a historic Super Bloom. This piece is my attempt to capture the overwhelming, joyful chaos of that experience—a memory not of a quiet field, but of an electric, celebratory energy.
To translate this feeling, the work became an exploration of unpredictable light. I began by laying down a shimmering, almost metallic base, creating a hidden source of illumination. Over this, I built up a dense field of wildflowers with layers of gouache acrylic. The light in this piece doesn't come from a single sun; it radiates from beneath the paint, glinting through in unexpected places. You never know where it will hit a blossom because it’s not coming from above, but emerging from within.
This technique was my way of capturing the memory of sunlight on millions of petals. The final painting is a testament to that wild energy and a celebration of abundance—a cherished memory of a time when nature itself seemed to throw a wild, beautiful party to mark a decade of my own journey of putting down roots.
