My latest watercolors and oils pattern flowers and constellations. They explore where the inner world of spirit and feeling and the outer landscape intersect. Like much of my work, these paintings make connections between things I understand and things I don’t.
About ten years ago, I started collecting New York Times star charts and drying hibiscus flowers in a handmade box. I can’t say why, though I’ve always loved looking at the night sky. The flowers reminded me of my former home in California. After a while I forgot about my box and what it contained.
My new work began because I was feeling angry about the war in Iraq. I first painted war planes, layered over flower shapes. But the finished paintings looked contrived. They lacked passion. I wanted to find another way to get at what was going on inside me.
Around this time, Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, arrived. I’m not that religious, but I like the idea that the gates of heaven open on this day so you can commune with God. I was fasting and a little light-headed. My thoughts were moving lightly, too.
I had one of those aha moments. Instead of war planes maybe I should be layering the flower shapes with constellations.
I found my little box and opened it. “All Vows” is the series of watercolors and oils that emerged.
Carol Baum