Let’s not beat around the bush. Fuck. That came out good. Damn, these innuendos write themselves do they? Any who, this is an art book compilation of artworks I did as part of my 10th one man show We Are All Stars, Dwelling in a Body (2023). The show was a culmination of new art I did and some artworks I’ve done before that haven’t gotten the limelight yet. I also did new, very new, works, like on the spot created something I really didn’t intend to do that day.

I was painting this main piece in oil and canvas, when suddenly as I was mixing paint on my pallet, I unintentionally did a bold stroke of black streak on some very wet with linseed oil red and yellow oil paint. To which it created a very distinct, for me anyways, image of a woman’s very lush bush. I stopped for a second to admire it and then went on mixing the paint erasing the image. I made a mental note of it as I remember stating to myself that maybe one day I can use that in an artwork if I’m given the time and chance. But then you know those moments when time stops?

Like only seconds past but I suddenly went somewhere, maybe a future event or place, I got lost, I wasn’t in the same space I was in that moment I just mixed the paint on my canvas. I was somewhere else, I had a vision. Of me painting these female delicate parts with a few brush strokes, and then there was a thought that almost went, “Where will you paint them you don’t have extra money (nor time) to buy new canvases!” but even before that doubtful thought ended, my body was jumping off to get the new mixed media sketch pad I bought the day before and started tearing it open and sticking two pages on the wall and started painting like a possessed madman. And what came out of it was the first Garden Girls you’ll see here in this book.

Funny story though, I only bought this 24 page mixed media sketch pad, because I felt some regret in giving away a similar sketch pad that’s more high quality and had more leaves and was really quite expensive. I gave it to an artist peer of mine when he visited my studio and I saw him deserving better art materials to paint his works. Eventually I realized that his art, or at least the meaning of it, was a subject I’m trying to move away from and I distanced myself from him so that I wouldn’t be associated with his kind of art. The regret I felt was thinking that the sketch pad I gave would just be filled with the same art, but I didn’t have the decency to ask for it back, after all he really needs it to make more art. It was supposed to be where I’ll be making a new series of works, I was planning to fill the fantastic sketch pad with brand spanking new artworks, but alas what’s done is done.

Two months past, and I was still regretting the decision, but opted instead to fill that void with a purchase of another sketch pad, it wasn’t the same but it’ll do and said to myself that I’ll do that new series here. After less than 3 days purchasing it, I’ve already painted on the 24 pages and have an entirely new series which I’m really proud of discovering and creating. And me thinking that all of that has transpired was meant to happen. I made the best out of the situation, and who’s to say I’d be able to discover my Garden Girls series had I kept the sketch pad.

The paintings in these series are a variety of women’s beautiful flowers, I can’t really say too much about them other than me, and maybe to me only, they all hold a different story, one that I may or may not entirely reveal in the poetry about each piece. Either way, it’s a wonderful (and erotic) creative exercise for me, exorcising my lust and quenching my poetic thirst to express my animal self. Without further ado, here’s my appreciation of women’s beautiful flower.