Original Artwork:
To Be Collection
“To Find Beauty in the Mundane - Part II"
(Part one in a triptych)
by Artist, Jess Tinsley
36x48 oil on gallery canvas. 1 5/8" profile.
2020
 
Limited Edition Art Reproduction:
Each limited edition print is on high-quality paperl, and comes carefully packaged with a copy of the story behind the painting. Hand signed and numbered. 11"x14"
 
This triptych is about shifting your perspective to find joy in even the mundane parts of life. Let me break it down into three parts – one for each panel:
 
Part I: If you look closely, you’ll see bees in this first piece. Bees do their work, day-by-day without any regard for the beauty they leave behind them. Their goal is to survive and feed their families. Yet, as they go, flowers thrive and grow, honey is created. So much beauty come from their lives and they never see it. I put bees in this painting to remind myself that the things I do that feel unappreciated and worthless may have real value to others – even if I never see it. I want to be as faithful and productive as a bee – knowing that beauty comes from those qualities.
Mushrooms are included at the bottom of this piece because they grow from the death of other plants. They are humble and low to the ground, yet they use what is present to grow – and they help the environment by cleaning up what would otherwise be considered waste.
I also added a cactus to this painting because, as a child, we did not have a Christmas tree, but we had a six-foot cactus in our living room. Since I didn’t have a tree to decorate, I chose to decorate our cactus with ornaments and to celebrate the best way I knew how. I made this as a reminder to look for and find the ways to celebrate – to be persistent in finding joy – and it will find you.
 

My work is about the tensions in life – about the difficulties and struggles we face – and how we respond to them. My hope is that when you are faced with your own struggle, my work will encourage you to have hope and joy. The figures in the pieces may feel sad, but they also dance. They may have limitations in their surroundings, still they push through. The plants and flowers are symbolic of growth and persistence. The change that plants experience – from seed to bud to beautiful bloom – is an example of how change can make us beautiful – if we allow it. To me, the most important things in life are the people around us and the decisions we make in response to what life throws at us.
 
You may see in my paintings the hardness of life – the grief, sadness, anger, and hurt – while also offering the idea that there is hope for healing and growth through the struggle. It is intended to inspire you to live at peace with the complexity of a world full of storms and sunshine - while we mourn the deep loss we each experience, we still seek reasons for hope and joy.