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This collection includes color or black and white flowers and leaves that can all be enlarged to highly detailed murals. When enlarged, tiny pieces of pollen or flower structure are magically revealed. To order prints, contact Carolyn Brown at cebphoto@icloud.com.

Artist Statement

Craighead Green

                                   

 

The Secret Life of Flowers

 

Sweet-smelling yet sometimes deadly, flowers are our way of celebrating birth and death, happiness and grief, pain and healing, innocence and age, love, marriage and anniversaries. They decorate our lawns and tables, our prom dresses and tuxedo lapels,  we even eat them.  The language of flowers goes far deeper than we realize.  They are sensual and mysterious, erotic and evocative-- they are sex organs, after all.  Fertile, usually with both male and female parts, they are a life force.

 

Flowers stimulate our senses.  We see saturated colors and the tints, tones and shades of the prism--pink, red, orange, green, yellow and sometimes blue and purple.  We see the alluring mathematical curve of a petal or the stamen. We smell the fragrance, mostly sweet, fruity or spicy--fields are grown in France to make fine perfumes.  We can touch velvety petals and sometimes very prickly leaves or stems.  We taste the petals and leaves in teas and the honey made by bees who suck the nectar. 

 

I thought I knew about flowers until I began making giant digital images.  I learned about their inner life, the follicles, bits of pollen, tiny hairs and veins--magnified many times, so the cells are nearly seen--all in a way that looking at the real flower cannot do. 

 

Each flower is unveiled, unwrapped, undressed and transformed into a huge digital file and printed greatly enlarged on paper or cloth with ink.  Hidden secrets are exposed and these living magnificent creations are memorialized in an art form.   Their proportions are of arithmetical perfection using the golden ratio, so the art of design is natural. 

 

We think of flowers as frivolous with very short lives, but these enlargements show clearly the hard work that goes into producing a blossom.  We are drawn into the heart of the flower to reveal a little-known world: the Secret Life of Flowers.

 

                                                                                                            Carolyn Brown

                                                                                                            2010

CAROLYN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHER
Ankh Man Egypt
Ankh Man Egypt
Farmer with Lettuce Egypt
Farmer with Lettuce Egypt
Young Man with Horse: Egypt
Young Man with Horse: Egypt
Farmers in Egypt
Farmers in Egypt
Mustache Trim in Egypt
Mustache Trim in Egypt
Dancing at the Pyramids: Egypt
Dancing at the Pyramids: Egypt
Rest and Relaxation: Yemen
Rest and Relaxation: Yemen
Young Woman in Old City: Yemen
Young Woman in Old City: Yemen
Shiekh Ali: Yemen
Shiekh Ali: Yemen
Young Women in Sana'a Yemen
Young Women in Sana'a Yemen
Men of the Desert: Yemen
Men of the Desert: Yemen
Man on Wall: Yemen
Man on Wall: Yemen
Jordanian Dancers in Iraq
Jordanian Dancers in Iraq
Man and Camel: Petra Jordan
Man and Camel: Petra Jordan
Tea Seller: Iraq
Tea Seller: Iraq
Laughing Women: Mexico
Laughing Women: Mexico
Boxer Dog on Rooftop: Mexico
Boxer Dog on Rooftop: Mexico
Tarahumara Runners: Mexico
Tarahumara Runners: Mexico
Wedding Day: Zacatecas, Mexico
Wedding Day: Zacatecas, Mexico
Musicians: Mexico
Musicians: Mexico
Santo Tomas Church, ChiChicastenango, Guatemala
Santo Tomas Church, ChiChicastenango, Guatemala
Woman of Chichi: Guatemala
Woman of Chichi: Guatemala
Altar in Santo Tomas Church: Guatemala
Altar in Santo Tomas Church: Guatemala
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