I’ve created Zermeno Museum as a sanctuary for art and inspiration. These past few years I have literally planted thousands of flowers, mostly an extensive variety of exotic tulips in the gardens. As the director of the museum, prior to the pandemic, I was planning to sponsor many events for other artists, such as coming to enjoy all the flowers in the gardens of the sanctuary for plein air painting.

The museum’s sanctuary also has a little pond. One day I went deep into the forest seeking solace from news on television, the political climate, and the troubles of the outside world. It was time to return to the garden to plant more flowers. While in the forest, I was pondering about what type of flower I would plant in my garden next. Suddenly nature answered my question with a type of flower I had not even considered before. Standing right in front of me was a beautiful white water lily.

As I was walking deep in the forest, I had stumbled upon a large pond with the surface of the entire pond blanketed in floating water lilies. However, the wind had created waves that had pushed one particular water lily towards the shore to greet me.

I gave this water lily a new home in my sanctuary. So to represent "water" in this exhibit I am choosing this painting capturing the moment I was placing the water lily in my little pond. Nature speaks to us and shows us that love is important. As you can see, in my pond nature created hearts made of the leaves in my pond. I couldn't help but smile. That's why I also created hearts in my own painting expressing love.

This painting is about being in "communion" with nature. At that moment, I felt a deep spiritual connection. While in the water I felt as if I was being baptized through my hand. When I placed the lily in my little pond, the petals of this flower felt like they were the very fingers of my hand. That's why I took creative license here portraying nature's flower as the fingers of my hand. For this reason the title of this work is "My Flowered Hand". This painting captured that exact moment in time...