Birds and Flowers from Paradise

Watercolour Paintings

According to my opinion, Paradise exists only within our heads. Hell too. I say “only” even if I think that the best and the worst which can happen to a human being is to have Paradise or Hell in his own head. Anyway, I called this blog post “Birds and Flowers from Paradise”, because I simply invented these birds and flowers. And they appeared from my fantasy in a moment when I felt happy…

To have Paradise in one’s own head can take many forms. To me it often translates in colours, mainly warm colours -reds, oranges, yellows – and an irresistible need to freely spread them on the paper. With some stains of greens and blues among them, for the contrast. In the above painting the bird could be a blackbird; as I painted it, I felt the urge to put some black among the vibrant colours, and this is how the bird’s head suddenly appeared. Perhaps was it to be remembered, at least unconsciously, that even in the middle of Paradise, Hell is never far away. As to the flower, one could think first of a tulip, but honestly: doesn’t it look much more like a strawberry? Yes, there are not only apples in Paradise!

The above painting was in fact the first I painted during that recent ascension to Paradise. There were three of them, the three I present in this blog. This one is softer, less violent than the one at the top of the post, with more pastel colours and less contrasts. Probably was I in the middle of the ascension process still, not having arrived yet, and life was all peace. Because if you think that Paradise itself is a haven of peace, well, it isn’t! It is as violent as Hell, just in a positive sense…

This last one was the second I painted, the arrival to Paradise probably, full of surprises and wonders. The flower looks like some kind of thistle, I would say. By the way, concerning thistles: I just read that it was one of the favourite plants of one my famous compatriots, Théophile Gautier, French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic . When I say compatriot, he is more than that: Théophile Gautier was born in the same town as me, Tarbes, in the French Pyrenees, and, as a child, I even went to a school bearing his name. Thanks to my new electronic book, I have now easy access to French books and I have rediscovered that author, reading his delicious and very instructive book “Travel to Spain”. There he says that his favourite plants are thistles and palm trees. I don’t believe though that he would have loved my painted thistle, judging by the paintings he describes and loves. In those days – XIXth century- one loved more detailed and more realistic paintings. I suppose. But I would have been curious to see his reaction in front of these kind of free watercolours and read what he has to say about it, as I really enjoyed his paintings descriptions of the Spanish and other masters (Goya, El Greco, etc). Well, I’d better stop now, because if I start thinking of what isn’t possible any more in my life, I will rapidly end up in a breathtakingly steep descent to Hell, and this post here is only about Paradise..

The birds paintings presented in this gallery are available directly online as Giclee print in many different dimensions, on paper or canvas, and also as greeting cards, in my FAA Gallery. Please press the link below to access it.

Buy prints online!

The Giclee prints from the above mentioned Online shop are manufactured in the USA and sent directly to the client from there. For personal or financial reasons it might not be appropriate for everybody to order their prints in the USA. Also, you might prefer to purchase my Giclee prints hand-signed. If so, you can alternatively order directly from me. Simply contact me indicating which painting you are interested in and in which size. Go to Goodaboom Boutique to see a guideline of pricing for different dimensions.

Afternoon in Bloom

Floral 01 - by Miki

Painting in mixed technique: gouache, pastel and ink

I took a little time time to revisit my past yesterday… not that I like to do that, I never look back normally. But well, there were days when I didn’t promote my art on the internet, and most paintings from that time are not published yet, and have hardly even been seen.  So sometimes when I need a change, I go through all my folders and “piles of coloured paper”, until I find one which looks like it is worth to be seen.

Yesterday I found that ‘one’ among them and thought it looked beautiful. I don’t say it because I painted it, that’s really not me! Anyway, I hardly have an emotional connection to whatever I did in the past, especially my art: it is as if that stuff had been painted by somebody else.

It is “only” flowers, I know, but, as I have said many times, a beautiful flowers painting is just divine, like nature itself. I don’t care if it is not contemporary art, all abstract or shocking or rebellious or political or hyper-realist or microsimplistic or cadaverous or whatever bollox artists and critics might categorize their art.

For me, it is always time for flowers, they will never become unfashionable.

Of course, one can paint flowers in more or less modern styles. The bouquet above is more in a classic style. The one below, featuring loose wild flowers, might seem more modern. And again, created in the dirty room, with water and paints flowing through space

Wild Flowers 02 - by Miki

 Painting in acrylics

You can see my -so far- published collection of flowers and still life in my FFA Gallery clicking on this link.

If you are interested, You can buy there directly on line, prints of these paintings in many different sizes, on different kind of papers or canvas, or as greeting cards. Just click on the widget below

Sexy Fleurs de Lys

Some days ago I promised to post my last two flowers paintings here.. and I almost forgot! I go so fast from one thing to another, I can’t keep track with myself as an artist. Of course, everybody says to me:

“You should focus!”

but what an absurdity! The only thing I should do is to have fun while  painting, and there is for me nothing more boring than painting always the same thing in the same style. This is why my eyes and brushes jump in all directions, always finding something new and attractive to focus on it. My galleries look mental: when one looks at them one has the feeling that a hundred different artists are at work!

Well, it’s just me, the tiny little Miki:

TOTALLY UNFOCUSSED YOURS!

My Kevin, who belongs to the people who normally find flowers paintings boring,  looked quite interested as he saw that one, and said:

“They are so much in your face!”

I wonder if he found them sexy…  I do!  🙂

Anyway, I  always loved the fleurs de lys, amazing creatures really! And love them even more since we were in New-Orleans this year.. As their emblem it is everywhere there! Needless to say I bought a lot of clothes covered with fleurs de lys. Funny by the way, as I told my elderly French mother that the fleur de Lys is the emblem of New-Orleans, she reacted quite “offended”, saying:

“First of all, it is the emblem of the French Royalty!!!!”

These French, they are sooooo Nationalistic!

My second recent painting featuring fleurs de lys.. a little less in the face, more decorative than sexy, and with much stuff around! Sometimes I love these overloaded paintings, where stuff is going on everywhere!

I have seen some UFOs last night…

Well, not really UFos…

… but they look like them, kind of! Sorry to disappoint you…  🙂

Every now and again, I feel the urge to paint flowers. Many people think that to paint flowers, or still life is quite uncool and old-fashioned, and perhaps it is. But I do enjoy it sometimes. I enjoy the colours, shapes and textures of flowers. And a beautifully done still life can be a delight too. Something with transparent bottles, or metal in which reflections can be seen, fruits… stuff like that! a challenge for the artist! Often I think I should paint this kind of stuff, but I never seem to take the time. A pity!

But flowers, yes, I painted some in my life. But my flowers rarely stand well-arranged in a vase or tied to the earth. O love them free. like I love everything free.

My flowers tend to float in the air, like coloured clouds….
or like UFOs!

But flowers in a vase or tied in a bouquet have their charm too,   as long as the feeling of romanticism remains. I’ll show to you my last two ones in my next post.