At the beginning of each year, I try to make a habit to sit down and think about my goals as a creative, a boss, and a small business owner. Building in time to press the reset button after our busiest season (Christmas) helps me clear my mind and start with a blank slate. Several early mornings in January were spent in my sketchbook, fleshing out ideas over a cup (or three) of coffee.

One of my favorite flowers is the Anemone. It is kind of an underdog in the flower world next to the fluffy peonies, the layered ranunculus and voluminous english roses. To me, the simple buttercup shape and bold contrast between the dark colored stamen and the white petals make it a stand-out bloom despite its smallish size.

Historically, the Anemone Flower symbolizes protection against disease. I happened upon this information while I was researching. What a beautiful and poignant meaning in the time we are living in now.

I wanted a way to display the beauty of these flowers in a more permanent way that wasn’t just a pencil drawing. So changing my medium to clay, I started to “carve” these beauties into small oval tiles. Every tile is a unique hand-drawn portrait of this gorgeous flower and is signed by me on the back.

When I first imagined them, I saw them hung in a grouping of three over a bed. Framed similarly to classic Neoclassical Intaglios and with the option of two or three hand-carved clay tiles, these studies can be hung by themselves or in a grouping.

Making these has been such a nice change of pace for me creatively and I love that in these, clay has been elevated from a substance normally only thought of to create utilitarian objects, to a new 2D form of art that transcends its original purpose.