I painted this as a sort of superficial practice on monochromatic colors and pops of contrast. While I was composing the description for this piece I realized I paint things that I feel are beautiful and joyful because I understand how dark and not very beautiful the world can be sometimes. Often for me, a piece doesn't start out with a reason but I find it always has one. Sometimes we just create things to make our world more beautiful. I look at this painting and I'm transported to a childhood birthday pool party. The sun is shining and it's June in Florida. There are plastic pink flamingos in our yard.
I'm smiling over my birthday cake adorned with 8 candles. Ribbons of hot pink icing exclaim "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"on the top. There are light pink roses in a wreath and light green leaves pop against the pink. I'm standing where the darkness of the world hasn't held me yet. It hasn't even grazed me.