Please join us at Indra Botanica to view flower inspired artwork by Saskia Ozols, Indra Ozols, and Auseklis Ozols. 639 N. Murat St, 70119. Saturday Morning November 12, 10am-2pm.
Below are my works included in Indra’s open Studio. To view some of Indra’s work before the event, please visit https://indraozols.com and to view some of AO’s available work please visit https://auseklisozols.com They both have exciting new thing not included on their websites on view so please stop by !!
Each of the paintings in this series took two seasons (years) to complete. They are all strictly from direct observation, meaning that I did not use photo reference, and only painted directly from the subject as it was in front of me. This creates a certain affect not otherwise possible that takes more time than using photo reference but also allows more complex investigation of atmosphere and a more thorough exploration of each form.
I planted, grew, and arranged each of the flowers from my own garden before beginning to paint. As flowers die and the lifespan, color, and shape change while the wilting process occurs the process of exploring meaning and the chase to understand/categorize color, value, and composition truly begin.
Once the flowers were ready I would race through the process often beginning one flower and then replacing it with another and painting it once it got to the same stage of development and position as the one I began. I would do this for the duration of the season of that particular flower, and then when the plants dropped all the blossoms begin the next one, and work on the vase/vessell throughout the year until the particular grouping of flowers bloomed again the next year. The multiple layers of paint, color, impasto and glazing would not have been possible without this duration of work and drying time of each layer of oil paint. (Saskia Ozols, 2022)
I see painting as a meditation: an exploration of relationships I encounter through observation and experience. I find greatest inspiration working from nature; considering innate dualities as they move through varied passages of color, meaning, and form. The resulting images reflect the search for beauty as a journey through the fluidity of perception, the passing of time, and the structure of change. ( Saskia, 2019)
This current series of paintings celebrate the local flora of New Orleans and the Gulf South. Small gems of color, these compositions present blooms of the southern garden with generations of vessels and objects collected around the world. The intersection of atmosphere with an object and how we perceive the accompanying relationships of value, color and form allow endless contemplation.
The simple beauty that surrounds us exists anywhere we look if we open our senses, in flowers, colors of the air, the light or darkness of the sky. As we allow the experience of inspiration, we enter a unique intersection between art and reality. These intersections are abstract, infinite, and come alive through a dialogue of differences.
This painting explores the juxtaposition of textures as they are impacted by the humid and water-filled atmosphere that envelope New Orleans. The juxtaposition of a fixed place (represented through the flowers) with a moveable feast of international cultures (represented through the objects) allow a metaphorical travel during the challenging period of pandemic quarantines. Investigating appreciation of one’s own back yard with fantasy, memory, and dreams of future travel.
If there were only is one thing to love about December in New Orleans, for me it would be a celebration of sasanquas. A simple glance out doors or a neighborhood walk brings their inspiration to light. Blooms bursting with pink, white, or peppermint entwine themselves with holiday preparation, festivities, and occupy every water tight vessel I own.
December for me is colored with this calming soft pink blossom. Their light and delicacy offer constant contrast to the ever present winter darkness.
To paint a thing that brings inspiration is to explore our complicated relationship with beauty. Encountering these moments whether in a work of art or in individual perception of the environment is part of our shared human experience.
This painting addresses the long wait through winter, or periods of rest, restoration, and healing. It juxtaposes the present with what is to come through the incorporation of ripe fruit with blossoms of another plant (currently in flower Meyer Lemon.) Together provide an opportunity for appreciation of the present as well as hope and anticipation of the new or next ripening fruit.
This painting demonstrates the movement between seasons through representation of the last blossoms of one tree with the ripening fruit of another.
This painting is arranged from the new growth that appeared after a difficult storm. Hurricane Ida tore through my garden while I watched, removing every leaf and blossom in category 4 hurricane winds.
What happens after a hurricane churns through your garden? Near total destruction followed by signs of life which rescue any temptation to fall into malaise.
This is an arrangement of surviving beauty. It is a tribute to both beauty that survives difficulty and to ideological structures that survive and live beyond beauty.
The arrangement occupies a 17th century Dutch Delft double bird vase and is accentuated by an antique rattle that shows the wear the new blooms do not.
This painting represents juxtapositions and cyclical occurences between relationships of opposites. It depicts the Native Maypop passionflower with dried thorns of a Bouganvillia vine arranged in a vase decorated with Butterflies. The Moth in the foreground flew into my studio, landed, and died on a painting hanging on the wall. It is a sphinx moth, not the typical moth attracted to Passionflowers. The symbolism of moths and butterflies overlap in part yet one represents emotive energy of night and one of day. This work is part of a series of 12 paintings that I began during the pandemic inspired by flowers that I planted in my own garden.
