I surrendered and this happened…

Sweet Surrender

I couldn’t resist sneaking out another painting for my ‘Bloomin’ Mad’ exhibition which opened on Mother’s Day, May 8, 2022. Created in a moment of passion, I decided to name this yummy piece “Sweet Surrender.”

As an intuitive artist following my inner joy, I know the magic in painting (and in life) is to remember that you just have to surrender to it and just go with it. In the end, despite much frenetic energy, (including reworking an earlier painting) there really is a calm in the whole concept.
 
I also love the following: “It’s my choice to be joyful. I’m giving up on sorrow”,  Trevor Hall, Jupiter’s Call
 
This is why I’m creating happy art. You may think,” gosh how does that help anyone?” but it does …believe me I know from the 20 years I have spent as an art, couples and child therapist, that creating art helps with anxiety and despair and depression and I know people who receive my paintings tell me how much joy they bring to their lives so that’s how I show up. I bring the gift of colour.
 
Sweet Surrender was created in the aftermath of a stressful life event, and as with all my paintings, I seek to shift the energies. So I created with joy as I flowed with grace. Also inspired by the beauty of nature. Beauty will save us all.

 
As I have shared with some of you earlier, somewhere along the way in my fifties, I discovered the work of Helen Frankenthaler… I loved the way she embraced a childlike love of beauty and her call to ‘let er rip’ – to embrace spontaneous joy in colour. I devoured her bio and found a kindred soul.
 
 
She had a very traumatic childhood and suffered from anxiety and sadness and found release in her paintings. “Each crisis, if properly realized, can turn into production,” she wrote. Twenty days later, with the freedom and curiosity of a child, she painted what is regarded as her greatest work, Mountains and Sea.
 
 
As Alexander Nererov writes in this biography of Helen Frankenthaler, Fierce Poise, “The painting recalled the freedom that Helen’s sociology professor Erich Fromm had espoused, “We all know what a spontaneous act is and may have some vision of what human life could be if these experiences were not such rare and uncultivated experiences.”
 
 
Fromm saw the opposite of this freedom all around him in his adopted country, the USA. I feel history repeating all around me currently. I wanted to feel more love, less fear and to help others achieve happiness too.
 
 
I set an intention to make child-like spontaneity my new norm. Capturing, creating and collaborating with others the beauty of childlike play has become my passion and joy. I love painting on the wing and seeing people moved by spontaneity, joy, and ultimately life itself.
 
 
This painting and others in the Bloomin’ Mad (Floral Art) Series are a call to embrace happiness, love, hope and healing in our lives to live with the purpose to uplift ourselves and each other. The collection is embodied with love, positive energy, Reiki spiritual blessings and tremendous vitality which is peaceful, enlivening and enlightening at the same time.
 
These works of heart will bring joy to any home or office.

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BEST MOTHER’S DAY EVER!

SOLD! WHEN LOVE FIRST TASTED YOUR LIPS






So far, I’m having the best Mother’s Day this year! LOL. (Every day should be Mother’s Day. We rock!) First I received a lovely call and message from my daughter expressing how proud and happy she is to see me painting again and making so many people happy. And thanking me for encouraging her to follow her passion❤️💕

Then today I met a beautiful new collector on holiday from Sydney visiting her family. They made a special visit to see me in the gallery. People love meeting the artist I have found and learning more about the urge to create.

“My sister fell in love at first sight with your painting ‘When Love First Tasted Your Lips’” her sister, Claire told me when she called.

The painting had only recently been hung at Ake Ake restaurant and winery here in The Bay of Islands.

Clients often love the story behind the painting. Here’s a little blurb, from the inspiration which was the writings of Anais Nin and the reminder that something better can emerge after a painful ending.



“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
Anais Nin



Layered in sultry glazes and gestural sweeps of colour, the palette embodies vibrant pinks, love-hewn reds, wonderful whites, glorious golds and sunny yellows, When Love First Tasted Your Lips speaks to the heart.

910mm x 910mm

Acrylic on canvas

Thank you Tracey for loving my painting and inspiring a sister piece (my yummy yellow floral: “Sweet Surrender.”)



You can view more of my flower paintings here>>




Have a beautiful day!

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