The Blomster Collection

“Blomster” [blom-ster] noun Swedish 1. floral

I don’t really know where to start describing this collection... The inspiration for it came about a bit differently than I think most collections do. They weren't painted out of a place of conscientious planning and development but rather a real psychical need for warmth during a really scary time. 

Prior to these paintings, I was working on the Stormy Fields Collection. If you remember, those pieces were huge, bold, moody depictions of the coming storms of late summer and early autumn. They’re big bold beauties but they are a mood, to be sure. Then COVID-19 grew into a global nightmare and that mood just wasn’t hitting right anymore. Just like many of us, I started feeling depressed and unable to cope with day-to-day necessities.

I needed to throw myself into the light (albeit in winter in Sweden– talk about darkness, yikes) and the best way I knew how to do that is by immersing myself in bright vibrant colors. The Blomster Collection was then underway and it was hitting me in just the right spots. I really felt these pieces drag the drudgery away and provide me with warmth in a way I desperately needed.

The Blomster Collection is about color. It’s about texture. It’s about how beautiful simple things are and how amazing they can make you feel when hung on a wall in home. This collection’s about joy.

When I started pivoting away from the Stormy Fields Collection and into this one, I started to really think back to the beginnings of my time painting– thinking a lot about the subjects that I naturally gravitated towards and why it is I do so. 

You know, fruit has always been something that I love to paint, flowers too. I think I gravitate towards those subjects because they naturally have an amazing array of colors for me to replicate. I love colors because they make me feel energy. Muted tones bring me down but colors, in all their vibrancy, make me feel ready for the day. And so feeling all the weight during COVID I turned towards painting florals, and oranges, lemons, and kumquats, and I painted them into beautiful arrangements of positive spirit. 

And it’s really so interesting how the subconscious seeps it’s way onto canvas. Those fruits are a major part of Florida agriculture. I was supposed to leave Sweden for Florida to see my family when COVID hit and I’ve yet to be able to return to the States. I painted the fruits that reminded me of home when I was feeling down looking for a positive spin on the world. I paired them with colors and flowers that let that fruit shine and I think it’s no mistake that orange plays a huge role in this collection. What is more symbolic of Florida than an orange? It is at least for me growing up near orange groves. 

When starting this collection I was thinking a lot about old memories I had of home and one that came to my mind was of the Strawberry Festival that used to come to town during the summer. I remember the red and white striped food tents and the carnival lights flashing all around as dusk descended into night. I remember this feeling of wild fun I had as a kid then. Running around playing tag in the early evening at the carnival, there was a real wild excitement that ran through me. That memory is at play at bit in this collection. The stripes really wrap the fruits and florals up in childhood joy for me. 

And as if I just couldn’t get enough happiness out of what was already a beautifully positive collection, I added gold. 

This is the first time I broke away from my traditional use of watercolors and went mixed media. I used ink pens for the texture dark lines, various different types of watercolors, and acyclic gold ink to bring them all together.