The Cloche Collection

Flowers have seduced artists for centuries. They are beautiful, ever changing, and diverse, the perfect subject to study lines, color, light, movement and composition. Honestly, the list goes on and on. For as long as I can remember, blooms have found their way into my art, from line drawings to paintings, even doodles. Throughout winter they continued to tug at my apron strings and I listened. Now, I have an entire collection of blooms coming March 29th and I don’t think I’m ready to stop following blooms just yet.

“I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.” ― Claude Monet

Since committing fully to being an artist, I have grown and I continue to grow with each painting, sketchbook, post, journal, and collection – both as a business owner and a fine artist. I have learned how to trust my artistic gifts, how to be vulnerable, how to lean into the uncomfortable, to play, to dare, to find growth in my artistic voice and style and to share this journey with you.

The Cloche Collection is part of that journey of artistic growth. Collections are a lot like the paint marks on my easel or the hash marks on my closet door frame documenting how tall my kids have grown. They are artistic growth milestones. Early on in a series, it’s a quiet journey, I see one piece at a time along a path that isn’t certain or chartered. Midway, hopefully inspiration jumps in and lights a candle, but all along it’s a journey built on artistic trust. The end is not really an end, but a resting point. A time to stand tall against the wall and draw that pencil line. If we do it right, the artistic growth never stops. We don’t ever walk away from that door frame.

Sometimes there is one piece that pulls all the growth together and documents that milestone in a way that no words ever will. Other times the artistic growth is across multiple pieces, like chapters in a story. It's a wonderful time to be in the studio surrounded by an upcoming collection with all the work gathered together. What a beautiful gift to see the end come together from the growth of a collection.

The Cloche Collection started in my sketchbook last Fall and moved to daily paintings outside until the energy and temperatures from the land naturally shifted and I moved inside to my studio. With garden roots buried under a blanket of cold snow, I found myself studying the bouquets from quiet celebrations. We are witness to their full life in a season, from seed, sprout, shoot, bud, blossom to brown. Each stage is beautiful and worthy of our attention. The strong yellow-green stems of young buds protecting their vibrant colors as though they are not yet sure of who they are. The soft colors of a new bloom, slightly open to the world, as though shy about what they might have to offer. The colorful confidence of a mature bloom, almost as though they are saying, like me or not, this is who I am. And even the earthier tones of an aged bloom, taking the well-deserved rest from days stretching to reach for the warm sun. Beauty at every stage of life. Isn’t that how it should be?

As I sketched the curved and straight lines, connections from stem to root and from flower to flower reminded me to listen inward to my own voice, my likes and dislikes and my personal connection to my roots. I was able to spend time thinking and trusting my instinct and daring to be curious. Linework is a strong part of who I am artistically and this collection celebrates that unique signature within each piece of work. You can see the layers in each painting of the Cloche Collection. Early sketches overlaid with water color and finished with a celebration of the lines that I love so much, the connections between subject and artist, artist and collector, collector and admirer.

I spent a glorious winter warmed in my studio, like a plant under a cloche, surrounded by blooms with winter looking in at me working. The Cloche Collection is filled with Quiet Blooms and will be available on my website on March 29th.

The Cloche Collection is an invitation to enjoy the beauty of those flowers that have seduced artists for centuries. This collection features both originals on textured paper to frame and hang on your wall as well as a small number that are encased in dome glass “cloches” to enjoy off the wall.

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