art with heart
Paintings by Patricia
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done.
Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad,
whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”
Andy Warhol
current series of paintings
This series of six paintings is based on exotic flowers – flowers that are unique in colour, character, shape and/or origin. I see the Bird of Paradise in all its glorious colours stretching out to reach the sun. It reminds us of the male tropical Australasian bird, which is admired for its beauty and brilliant plumage. The African Daisy is unique for the variety of stunning bright colours and its petals that close in the evening, to reopen in the morning sun. The Japanese White Dove Egret orchid, also known as the fringed orchid, bears a striking resemblance to the White Dove Egret in flight. It is said that white orchids represent power, strength, love, beauty and innocence.
Rainbow Roses are created, not grown. Peter Van de Werken, a Dutch grower, developed a clever way to change the colour of rose petals by immersing the flower stems in dye. Dying a rose with a single vivid and unusual colour is quite an achievement, but creating the Rainbow Rose, with so many brilliant colours, is most exceptional and very complicated.
The unique Zimbabwe Flame Lily is the national flower of Zimbabwe. It flourishes in tropical and Southern Africa, in the savannah woodlands, sand dunes, and grassland in sandy loam soil, reaching up to 3 metres in height. Although it is also grown in tropical Asia and Australia, in Zimbabwe, this striking flower is protected under the Parks and Wildlife Act. It is a crime, and the punishment is severe, to pick, damage, possess or trade the Flame Lily without a permit. Poaching is threatening this glorious flower’s survival.
As beautiful as it is, the Flame Lily is highly poisonous and must be handled delicately for even touching it can cause skin irritations. However, this plant does have medicinal uses in tropical traditional medicine for it contains the alkaloid colchicine, which is effective in treating gout conditions and other ailments. Even modern medicine uses colchicine to treat gout.
Rothschild’s Slipper Orchid, the “aristocrat of all slipper orchids”, is one of the world’s rarest flowers. It is also called the Gold of Kinabalu Orchid because it grows in the rainforests around Mountain Kinabalu in the Kinabalu National Park in northern Borneo and it fetches at least $5,000.00 per stem on the black market. This orchid, which takes 15 years to grow, is found at elevations from 500 to 1200 metres above sea. It is protected by the Malaysian government since it is critically endangered due to poachers. It is estimated that there are only 50 of these amazing orchids left in the world. The orchid is named after Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, a wealthy European who cultivated orchids.
previous series of paintings
This series of six paintings with a music theme is now complete. Music is an important pastime for our family. I used to sing in operas, musicals and choirs. Encouraging my children and grandchildren to play an instrument was always high on my priority list. I am pleased to say that they did just that, and have been very successful.
Music, like art, is a gateway to creativity and self expression. Besides being fun, studying music helps to develop the brain, boosts self-confidence and can even improve your math skills. Reading music is an exciting new language to learn, and playing an instrument will soothe your soul.
