Our sense of smell is strongly tied to our memory, and every one of us has a particular group of scents that bring us back to special places, events and people. Maybe it’s a particular perfume or the smell of baking, but one whiff of it and you’re transported back to another space and time.
For me, a peony does that. It’s rich sweet scent takes me back to my grandmother’s house in the early summer, when she would have a huge vase of them on the dining room table and they’d fill the whole house with their scent. She loved those flowers, and I loved her. When I see them bloom each summer, I’m reminded of those times and she doesn’t seem so very far away.
This painting is called “Sweet Memories” for this reason, and I’m thrilled that it’s going to be hanging in the home of somebody very special to me, who feels just the same way that I do about peonies and the memories that they evoke.
