The Luxury of cut flowers.

I'm in my studio this morning preparing my next set of paintings. I'm working on peonies, for a bit of context.

Have you ever been at the flower market display and felt that the $15 or $25 to buy the bunch of flowers, is too much? It just feels a bit, I don't know, excessive like you're really going out of your way to buy something frivolous. I don't know if you've ever had that but for me I always think twice about buying cut flowers because they don't last all that long. Yes, they're beautiful, but then I think the underlying current is I don't always allow myself to have that luxury because it feels like the $25 or whatever it costs is not necessary right at the moment.  That my desire for beautiful things is not that necessary. Youch. 

 I talk myself out of it and I really love beautiful flowers I love having the colour, the shapes, the luxury of it in my home, the beauty of having, you know, something that's just delicious.

I realized in painting peonies, in this case, that I love all kinds of different types of flowers and through painting them I get to have that beauty and that luxury in a more permanent way, in a way that my investment allows me to enjoy it every single day. They aren't going to perish and I'm not going to have to discard them after a week or so.

The painting is a more permanent experience of that flower and, for me, as I start to complete more paintings and hang them around my home, have art displays, put them on my website and that kind of thing the feeling of that flower is everlasting. When I look at these paintings I feel the same way I felt when I first saw them. I feel the joy. I feel the luxury. I feel the worthiness of having that kind of beauty around me and I'm curious if you have ever considered that we limit ourselves because of  an immediate expense and yet our heart and soul is yearning to be surrounded by more beauty. To allow ourselves the luxury of having beautiful things around us. 

One of the problems that my paintings solve is that you can feel the luxury and the opulence of having beautiful flowers around you every single day and they're not going to perish. They are a constant reminder that we are worthy of the things that we enjoy.  That we can create the space for the luxury and opulence that we desire.

What do you think?  If this resonates with you I'd love to hear your comments. What's your favourite flower? What things do you like to surround yourself with that feel a bit opulent, a bit special or luxurious?