White Noise

Acrylic on canvas

30x48

On our second trip to Japan, we came across these beautiful orchids in Hiroshima. I had painted orchids from our first trip, but I've always loved revisiting subjects and seeing how differently I can interpret them. Sometimes changing the colors, composition, or technique can make something familiar feel entirely new.

One of my favorite challenges when painting flowers is figuring out how to make them feel alive. Orchids are funny because, if you take good care of them, they'll happily sit in the exact same position for weeks. Beautiful, obviously, but not exactly known for their dancing. I wanted to give these a sense of movement without losing what makes them so delicate. I carried over the dripping paint from Peaking in Kyoto and played with the contrast of bright white against the dark background, making the orchids appear almost illuminated. There's something about that glow that makes them feel like they're moving, even when they're standing perfectly still.

I love the contradiction of how much is happening in this painting while everything feels strangely quiet. Almost like the moment after a blinding flash, when your vision is overwhelmed and the world seems to go silent, leaving behind a little static. The flowers seem to glow and dissolve into one another, caught somewhere between all that visual noise and complete stillness.