This series of images captures flowers as they transition from bud to bloom to death. Bouquets of flowers have a special symbolism in most cultures. Flowers mark every kind of occasion and are always given in a spirit of goodwill even when they're meant as condolences. As well, the deliberate selection, intentional arrangement, and desire to create beauty and symmetry as a gift, underscores the best of our humanity. The symbolism of flowers in combination with their fleeting grace is a poignant reminder of our own allure and frailty. Is it any wonder still life compositions are found in works of art through the centuries?
I was drawn into this work by discarded bouquets, set aside as they wilted but to my eye still full of colour, shape and still in transition, perhaps always in transition as decay eventually rekindles life. I took these discards and after some contemplation, I then arranged them into compositions, in which I explored their new colours, shapes and fragile state. As I work compositions were constantly in flux and new abstractions emerged as the old one faded. The importance of this process was consuming as a meditation. So the series in a way is a framing of a series of Maranasati meditations or a momento moris.

The Florist Wears Knee-Breeches
Wallace Stevens

My flowers are reflected
In your mind
As you are reflected in your glass.
When you look at them,
There is nothing in your mind
Except the reflections
Of my flowers.
But when I look at them
I see only the reflections
In your mind,
And not my flowers.
It is my desire
To bring roses,
And place them before you
In a white dish.