As I was preparing for the online open studio in August, I was simultaneously finishing and photographing two paintings that I planned to submit for consideration for “Holding the Moment,” a serial exhibition put on by the City of San José’s Public Art Program partnered with the Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport. The exhibition’s purpose is to offer local San José artists an opportunity to reflect on the global COVID-19 crisis and these challenging times. The artwork for the exhibition will be printed onto large format fine art boards and will be split into six groups to hang at the airport for approximately one month each. The first group is already hanging and looks amazing.
I’m thrilled to announce that both of the paintings that I submitted were accepted!!! One will hang in Group 2, December 7, 2020 – January 9, 2021, and the other in Group 5, March 22, 2021 – April 24, 2021.
The first painting that will be shown as part of Group 2, is “Lavender and Coffee”. This painting was inspired by my neighbor. For years, I’ve enjoyed seeing the lavender he has growing in his front yard – it’s a daily feast for my eyes when it’s in bloom. After the pandemic lockdown, he started meeting a gentleman in his front yard for coffee and conversation. As other neighbors walked by, they stopped on the sidewalk to chat from a safe distance. I was enchanted by the scene and couldn’t get the image of it out of my head, so naturally I had to paint it! It was a change from my usual paintings, and rendering it while staying true to my painting style was fun and educational. It has some delicious texture, especially in the house where I used a credit card to lay down the paint. Except for the details, I painted most of it using my trusty old credit card. I think I’ll plan to do more buildings going forward, adding them to my flower landscapes.
The second painting is of a flower field inspired by the images that I saw on the news of the actual coronavirus, and I titled it “Please Don’t Smell the COVID Flowers.” The images of the COVID-19 virus were brightly colored with little protrusions, and I couldn’t help thinking they were pretty – a pretty virus with an ugly reputation. In the plant world, we have comparable situations, for example, poison oak. Poison oak can be beautiful, especially in the fall when the leaves are tinged red. You might want to reach out and touch it, admire it, but that would be a bad idea. Similarly, I imagined if the beautiful coronavirus were a flower in a flower meadow, it might be tempting to take in a big breath of fresh air and smell the fragrance, but that, too, would be a very bad idea. This is the inspiration that drove me to paint “Please Don’t Smell the COVID Flowers.”
I have a video on my YouTube channel that shows the start-to-finish process of painting “Please Don’t Smell the COVID Flowers.” You can go to YouTube to view it here and I’ll also embed it below on this page at the end of this post.
If you’d like to view my art or any of the other amazing works by other artists, you can do it in person or online. Here are the details:
- What: Holding the Moment group art exhibition
- When my art will hang:
- “Lavender and Coffee” – December 7, 2020 – January 9, 2021
- “Please Don’t Smell the COVID FLowers” – March 22, 2021 – April 24, 2021
- Duration of entire exhibition: November 1, 2020 – May 31, 2021, open any time the airport is open
- Where: Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport Terminal B in the publicly accessible Arrivals Halls, no need to go through security
- View the exhibition gallery of images online here, my images are number 45 and 46
I’ll be adding these paintings to my shop for sale soon. If you want to inquire about them, use my contact page to message me. After the exhibition ends, I’ll be gifted the large format fine art boards, and so those will also be available for sale.
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