Negative Space Floral Shadow Series
February, 2026 | Acrylic on Canvas
8" x 8"
The leaves, marked by irregular openings, and the tall, slender stems create a playful and elongated silhouette. Their elusive, highly organic shapes push the image further into abstraction, as the plant appears both defined and atmospheric within the illuminated field.
A textured red and orange ground, built from deep rusty red and bright yellow, establishes a heated foundation. Over this rests a strong, medium-value purple, shifting to a darker value within the shadowed areas. Raised peach-pink lines dart across the surface, structured initially by a taped grid and then disrupted through a more intuitive second layering. The repetition of these lines interacts with the fluid negative space, balancing geometric suggestion with organic movement. The overall palette operates in bold harmony, with color functioning as both structure and sensation.
The title references this interplay between organic and synthetic experience. The hot, warm tones evoke the brightness and intensity of summer, while the flat, unnatural purple introduces a distinctly inorganic presence. Together they recall the nostalgic scent of coconut sunscreen, pairing the natural sweetness of coconut with the chemical sharpness of UV protectant. The work holds this contrast between the organic and the manufactured, the playful and the artificial, within a single visual field