Julia Bringhurst Blake
Red Poppies+Seeds i
14 x 18 inches
Acrylic on traditional canvas
$1,000
Poppies are a perennial that I love and tried unsuccessfully to grow for several years in Massachusetts. I resigned myself to enjoy them in other people’s gardens and ultimately started painting them. I love the varied, but related symbolism of poppies - that life is eternal and that departed loved ones live in our memories. The seeds are an emphatic and bold hope for the good days ahead. The painting is a mix of loose, carefree strokes of imperfection for all but the seeds. Those are carefully and slowly painted - almost perfect circles. As I was painting them the scripture “Perfect love casteth out all fear” and I thought of the struggle between toxic perfectionism against healthy growth and how I’m content with my many flaws as long as I’m working on almost perfection in at least some areas of my life.
About the artist:
Julia Bringhurst Blake just moved back to Utah after 30 years away (Texas and Massachusetts). Though pre-med at BYU she has trained as an artist privately and at the MFA in Boston and RISD. She uses bold strokes and colors to abstract the world around her and to work through ideas and ideals and make connections there. Though she’s only been painting for ten years, she has sold work to private collectors and businesses in 32 states and 4 continents. She thrives on connecting with people through her work and is thrilled to be showing with many artist heroes in the JKR Gallery this month.
