Why I Paint Flowers

I’ve been trying to understand why I want to paint flowers. I seem to get drawn back over and again. 

Then I read this thing about trees* by Ram Dass, about seeing them as they are; that we accept some grow in different ways to reach the sun… (paraphrasing here) and how we should accept people in the same way.

It made me think. I try to accept people for who they are. I think I do achieve that most of the time. Except with myself. 

So, I’m looking at flowers. I’m deadheading roses so more flowers will come, I’m trimming back all the plants. I don’t use pesticides or nasty stuff, I let the bugs do their thing and I attempt companion planting (where different plants help each other out). That’s when it all came together a bit more for me.

I love the damaged, the ones who made it despite the mauled leaves, the brown spots, the red lily beetles. They triumphed and shine through. Their beauty is undeniable even if they won’t make it to a stand in a flower show.

And there we are, that’s it. We’re all flowers. We’re the colour. The shapes, the scents, the bitten leaves… but actually in the abstract, we’re perfect. We’re the symbiotic relationships. We made it.

Squint and you’ll miss the imperfections, look with judgement and you’ll see nothing but imperfections, look with love in the best light and you’ll appreciate the nibbled and gnarled bits as the extra they shared to make life better for others.

That’s why I want to paint flowers. I want us all to see the best bits and reflect it back at ourselves.

with love always, Gaynor

*the thing I read from Ram Dass:

”When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent…you sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying ‘You are too this, or I’m too this. That judgement mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are” 

Ram Dass