God’s Beautiful Mistake

 

Sunflowers are those flowers that you either love or hate.  I don’t think I ever heard of anyone saying, “meh, I think sunflowers are just okay.” I have a friend who absolutely loves them, and the above painting was a birthday gift in acrylic.

One of my favorite sunflower descriptions was in the horror movie The Order in a dialogue between Alex Bernier and Mara Sinclair;

“I hope you like sunflowers,” said Alex.

Mara replied, “I love sunflowers. You know that.”

“Why? Why do you love sunflowers?”

“Because I always thought that when God was making beautiful things, He messed up with sunflowers.”

“How?”

“Well, ’cause they look like – I don’t know. They look like crooked teeth around a mouth that’s too big, kind of.”

“Yeah.”

“But… just when He was about to start over, He realized that’s what made them beautiful. They were a brilliant mistake.”

“Like you and me.”

That really stuck in my head.  I saw the movie years before I started painting, and it made me look at sunflowers differently from then on.  A friend of mine told me once that artists see things differently.  Sometimes, I feel like that’s true, but sometimes, I still need things pointed out to me.  Like the loveliness of  a sunflower.  Later in the movie Alex compared  Mara to a sunflower, calling her “God’s beautiful mistake.”  Best. Description. Ever!

For me, sunflowers are definitely my favorite flower to look at.  The interesting textures and warm colors just make me feel good.  When I paint something, the more imperfections that show up in the painting, the more realistic the painting looks. Sunflowers are real.  The petals are all different sizes, the colors are all wonky, and the whole flower is imperfect.  They’re a favorite subject to so many artists. I mean, what art lover hasn’t seen or heard of VanGogh’s sunflower paintings?  It really comes as no surprise to me that people keep requesting sunflower paintings.  In fact, they keep requesting one painting, in particular,  and that painting is just a copy of an artist-unknown pallet painting I saw on pinterest.  Well, anyway, here are my copies

 

Advertisement