A miniscape is a landscape painted at a miniature scale in oil on paper board. Each measures approximately two inches on its longest side. Painting these tiny outdoor worlds conjures up snapshots of memories from my upbringing on the prairies. Each serves as a focal point for my own introspection and quiet contemplation. My hope is that these may also inspire a kind of remembering and reflection in the viewer. Painting at such a small scale additionally creates illusions that remind me of art’s power to bring magic into this life and dissolve the veneer of the everyday.

Flowers symbolize love, friendship, kindness, passion, prosperity, and innocence. Through their beauty I am reminded of my connectedness to all things living and departed, to beginnings and inevitable endings. Flowers bud, bloom, and fade, following the natural way of all things.

I had in mind this concept of dropping pennies into a wishing well to ask for good luck—a superstitious outreach to the universe in hope of something good sent back in return. Superstition helps us to feel a connection to the forces around us in such a way that perhaps through certain practices we might have some control over outcomes. A penny is small and nearly valueless yet somehow an intrinsically potent currency in this particular exchange. That idea of powerful smallness inspired me to work at a miniature scale.

Each microfloral is approximately two inches tall. I like to think of them as tiny wishes for love and tokens of good luck and positivity. To hold one in your hand is to imbue it with your own story of hope and reverence.