Curious Garden Botanical Poisons Series

I spent most of February and March working on this series—following it wherever it wanted to go, letting it unfold on its own terms. Not every piece made it to completion. Some refused to hold up to my standards. But these three? They hit the mark. Atropos. Demeter. Maybell.

I nervously carried them into an arts critique group, expecting no real feedback, just the typical polite nods. Instead, some guy scoffed at them and said, “Oh, how sweet, feminine floral art.” All the women in the room laughed. That’s when I realized—yes, I’m onto something. At the end of the critique an older woman said "Maybe us women should start getting back into poisons." 

Poisonous botanicals entwined with moths and an eye—that’s my way of saying: beauty, softness, and femininity don’t only exist in sunny, safe places. They bloom in dark, dangerous, ways too. And right now, the world is overflowing with toxic, awful, wars, Epstein file dumps, scandals, endless daily disasters, the ongoing chaos of…well, everything. I needed a place to put all that energy. Because it's poison to hold onto all that, feeling like "What can I do?". This series became my place to express it.

Maybe I’m too sensitive for this world. I can own that. As long as I can keep painting. Painting is my way of working with my feelings. It's my act of resistance.

Not everyone knows their foxglove from their nightshade. Not everyone catches the symbolism hidden in my works of art. That’s okay. These paintings aren’t for everyone. They’re for the ones who get it. The ones who see the darkness and beauty juxtaposed together and think: yes.