If you’ve been following New York–based jewelry designer Brent Neale Winston on Instagram lately you may have noticed that she’s been posting original gouache paintings of spring flowers in addition to glimpses of her jewelry and life.
We’ve all been dabbling in various quarantine activities, and Winston has taken up a daily ritual of painting floral and botanical images with the same paints and brushes she uses for jewelry sketching.
Those familiar with Brent Neale Jewelry know that florals are a constant source of inspiration in her work. Pre-pandemic, she would take frequent trips to the New York City flower market, where she’d stock up on tulips, roses, and lilies to decorate her uptown apartment.
During an early springtime quarantine walk, she was inspired to paint various flowers—the traditional harbingers of spring such as daffodils and hyacinths—but also other varieties. Like many of her fans, Winston has been craving the vibrant colors of peonies, snapdragons, hydrangeas, and more.
Her body of work as a floral still-life painter has grown as the days tick by. While these paintings were never intended to be for sale, she received several requests from her Instagram followers, and Winston has pledged to donate 100% of the sales from 45 of her one-of-a-kind artworks to sponsor a bench honoring the health care heroes supporting us through this crisis via the Central Park Conservancy’s Adopt-a-Bench program.
“Flowers are really interesting to me because, like gemstones, people have very specific connections to certain ones,” Winston told JCK. “Both also come in just about every color and are natural treasures that people can collect or display.”
Priced at $250 each, the 8×10, signed and dated paintings are available for purchase via @brentnealejewelry Instagram stories on a first-come, first-served basis (new flowers have been posted daily since the middle of April).
Top: For a limited time, fans of Brent Neale Jewelry have a chance to collect works from her special series of botanical paintings. She plans to complete a total of 45 original gouache paintings, with new ones posting daily to her Instagram account. Proceeds to go toward sponsoring a bench in Central Park honoring coronavirus frontline workers. Flower Vase earrings with malachite, amethyst, citrine, natural red coral, mother-of-pearl, and rainbow moonstone in 18k yellow gold, $12,150
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