I took a bunch of flowers, stuck them in an empty jar and thinking it would be restful, started painting. What flourishes, what elegance! The color combinations; how a brush stroke mimics a petal. Well, very funny. A wise man told me many years ago that there’s no such thing as an easy painting. Soon enough the paintings began edging toward emotions that usually I shun in my work. Mourning, grief, loss; celebration, joy, love; renewal, recognition, gratitude. Flowers carry such emotions from person to person. Meanwhile, I was fascinated with the problems of painting them. Backlit, on a table, in a room, perhaps with a window behind. The way a bouquet sits in silence as we buzz around it; the way stillness coexists with the passage of time. To me the classical indifference of ‘nature’ in contrast to our urgency has always been a theme. Donna Moylan, 2022 Donna Moylan was born in Boston, moved to Rome, Italy at the age of 19. In 1992, she went to live and work in New York City. Her paintings have been reviewed in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Newsweek, The Boston Globe, ArtForum, Art in America, The Brooklyn Rail, and other publications. She has had over 25 solo exhibitions in Rome, Italy, New York City, Boston, Houston and in Chatham and Hudson, NY. Her work is included in many private collections as well as The Whitney Museum of American Art, The New York Public Library, La Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, and the Museo Civico di Siracusa. Donna Moylan lives and works in Brooklyn and in Kinderhook, NY and is represented by Pamela Salisbury Gallery.