Forever Flowers

I began this adventure by creating a meditation practice. Evolving and subsiding each day with a set of thoughts I could find joy in. A flower, echoing the sentiment of finding the beauty of existence in a single lotus blossom. And challenging myself to answer what is a “flower”.

The abstract qualities of the flower are intentional as I find the multi state of ideas (a face in the petals) to be thought provoking and fuel for a discussion about life being ever changing through shifting perspectives.

Which brings me to the wave, I was thinking about how many thoughts it would require to have a cognitive shift of perspective... How many drops in synchronicity constitute a wave.... I also have become inspired by the work of Hokusai and the students of his work. This started as a meditation for me to focus my thoughts on my philosophy daily.

The wave typically begins from my signature which is looking up at the portrayed life moment…

It's a reflection of the thoughts I have... Captured in the pool of shifting reality surrounded by a circular road of life atop a shifting sand castle reality we construct to keep it all together.

The mountains represent the perception of challenges we grow within us... The birds fly over with ease as our thoughts do what they must, overcoming the challenges.

The numbers are part of my signature. Keeping track of the number of days I have been alive when I drew for you. A marker on the journey of life… each day waking to a fresh dream. I vary the presentation of a mile marker on a circular road… an address in the staircase of the now.

The balloon and tear represent the balance of “Joy and Sorrow”, an idea I found harmony in from Khalil Gibran's the prophet. The tears feeding the wave.

I’ve chosen napkins for a dozen reasons, beginning with they're almost always thrown away. Discarded like so many people who served a temporary purpose in our lives… They are all unique little mediums that are a sliver of what once was a tree. My hope is that you'll keep it as a bookmark on a favorite page when you need a laugh or a cry. Marking the moment we met in the novel of our lives.

Often I include a small nondescript form, which I use as a tool to transition my perspective. Rooted in the work of Scott Mutter’s “Elevator” double exposure photograph.

If you ever need more, there's a little door, in the forever flower for you. (if you can’t find it, reach out, we’ll build one together.)

I enjoy blending cartoonish simplicity with realism to reach an audience who believes in the valuable relationship we have with our own inner child.

Love, John

P.S. You may find these metaphors used in my work to give the mind tools for exploration, this abstraction of a reality just for you to enjoy as you like.

Stairs - Enlightenment, it goes both ways.
Balloon - Joy, we can all find a little joy in a balloon,
Wave - how many drops of water constitute a wave, how many single thoughts constitute a cognitive shift of the belief structure we construct
Fingers - grasping for truth
Mountains - we construct mountains within us that we view as something to overcome
Birds - of thought becoming movement and change, as they shift through the conscious greater reality
Flower - Represents finding the beauty of existence in a single lotus blossom
Books and pages - thoughts becoming written actions found by readers minds and growing to the edge of what is real
Balloons - Joy
Tears - Sorrow
Person perspective - the small self in the position of the overwhelmed
Mouth - we speak our thoughts and they become our reality
Eyes - we collect radiation in such a unique form that we might recreate in transformative ways, we create energy with our thoughts
Door - thresholds to more
Dice - Gods a gambler, and she rolls dice
Road, path, trail - the journey of life is a circle back to our thoughts
Mile marker sign - the number of days I believed I’ve lived when I finished the painting
Address - the number of days I believed I’ve lived in the moment
“Numbers” - the number of days I’ve lived, the decimal indicates the iteration of the idea that day using the fibonacci sequence

P.P.S. Please don’t sell for less than a million U.S. Dollars, which might sound funny, but the idea works like this. Once the price is set, all of the signatures have a price point. They’re more rare than diamonds and much like the Tulip Economy they are only fresh for so long.