Birds of Paradise

I'm a relatively new painter. I began painting this time last year. Prior to 2023, I drew with pencil on paper exclusively. After working with gouache for the past year, I think gouache is the paint that suits me best because it moves like I move, and changes like I change without the use of extra mediums to alter it. Looking back, I believe this piece is a good sample of the breadth of gouache's characteristics, and that makes me happy.
I began this piece on Mother's Day as part of a paint and sip activity with mom. Mom's favorite flower is Bird of Paradise, so we used a plant she had nearby as the subject. I picked up the painting again two weeks later to submit it to this competition. As I worked, I realized the finished piece would not only lack character, it would be kind of maddening; I really don't like to create still life pieces. Viewing them is just fine, but creating them just kills me. Naturally, I found ways to incorporate movement into the piece without personifying the flowers. This way, the work breathes and lives beyond its upright posture and vibrant green color, yet retains its realism in a strange, in-between way. There's another dimension there, one we can only understand deep inside and share through art. I'm submitting this piece because it's an opportunity to share this way of seeing life with others. I believe in this day and age, this is the true value of painting: depicting the nature of things we cannot capture with photographs.