Featured Artist Lisa Brown

Lisa Brown’s mixed media floral artwork captures the healing power of nature’s beauty to inspire resilience and renewal. See more of her portfolio by visiting her website.

 

 

It’s incredible how powerful and healing the connection between nature can be, especially during times of adversity. I started painting the “Gardens of Hope” series after 9/11 when the spring finally came. I felt it’s splendor restored me as the flowers began to bloom. They made it seem as if they too, felt a sense of renewed possibilities and rejuvenation.

 

 

I have continued painting nature at its most expressive time, both with watercolors and mixed media. I always rejoice in being able to recreate my own heartfelt admiration and love of the wonders nature presents to us.

 

 

I create art expressing the natural beauty of spring and the sense of hope and resilience it brings to my mind. I use a variety of mixed mediums, but often find my comfort in beginning with watercolors. This allows me to capture the essence of the season.

 

 

For my gardens, I start with a watercolor background of vibrant blended colors. Then I add painted and torn paper flowers and embellishments. Often the flowers spill off the page and onto the mat. I hope to inspire the same joy and inspiration I feel in spring.

 

 

Working as I do, I immerse myself in my process.  I let the colors and shapes lead me, not knowing the end until I look up and say to myself, “Yes, this is what I want to share with the viewers.”

 

 

In 1998, I turned my experience with Lyme disease and the relief I discovered while in the process of creating art into “Art as Therapy” programs. I believe there is therapeutic value in being able to express yourself with art. I recognize the healing power and its unique ability to provide solace, comfort, and a means of self-expression, especially during difficult times.

 

 

I teach mixed media often to allow my clients to express themselves by putting their life experiences into images, color, and design. As well as having a significant impact on their health, it gives them a few hours of reprieve. And it helps them explore their feelings which others can relate to.

 

 

Art has specifically helped me in being able to express my grief when my son died of an overdose at 23. Being able to put my despair into my art helped me through my own struggle. As I began to come to a new world without my son, I found the colorful gardens I created helped give me a chance to bring beauty back into my life. I treasure the opportunity to share my visions of what hope looks like to me.

 

 

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