I haven’t felt the desire to go into my physical art studio space at Mana for some time now so I’ve been creating in other spaces. Occasionally, I’ll host sleep overs at my little condo in Streeterville with friends. The other day my friend Xerx and I had an art night at my studio and I worked on this piece. Xerx is a florist for a company in Chinatown so occasionally after work we’ll smoke some weed, listen to music or go for a walk around the neighborhood. The other day we did a late night walk and eyed the fresh floral arrangements in the condo lobbies and the way the architecture of the buildings looked when it’s lit facing away from the ground.

For this art session Xerx brought a bunch of old magazines he had and made a collage piece. I was inspired to make a painting by The Temple of Flora Illustrations I had seen lining the Chicago Botanic Garden library’s upper wall. I swiped through image I had taken in Puerto Escondido and landed on one I took while I was walking down the Zicatela beach. I used it as a reference and placed a red poppy anemone in the scene. I love the anemone flower for compositions, they remind me of eyes, and in person they look so alive and awake.

The Sun of Zicatela

Pictures from our late night walk

My other Experiments with Anemones