Maud Taber-Thomas

Painted during quarantine in the spring of 2020, these paintings of flowers with natural light and neutral backgrounds were a new experiment for Maud Taber-Thomas. Forced to turn to the objects she had on hand, Maud was drawn to the beauty and simplicity of flowers in glass containers. She approached these paintings as color studies, each one a new examination of the refraction of light through glass and the play of light over grays and whites. The simplicity of the subject matter combined with the forced isolation of quarantine, has made painting these works a meditative experience for Maud, and she hopes you will find peace and solace from looking at them.

Because this series sprang directly from the circumstances of the Covid-19 outbreak, Maud plans to use the sale of these paintings as a way to help with relief efforts. Maud will donate 15 percent of all proceeds to Feeding America, an organization that helps provide food to children and adults during this critical time.

To purchase an artwork, please email M.taber.thomas@gmail.com.

While painting this series, Maud drew her inspiration from the insights of American painter Charles Hawthorne (1872-1930), recorded in the book Hawthorne on Painting. Here are some of her favorite passages:

“Beauty in art is the delicious notes of color one against the other. It is just as fine as music and it is just the same thing, one tone in relation to another tone.”

“There is nothing in the world so helpful to a young painter as a study of white, if he will but be honest.”

“Let the objects in your study be simple in form—few in number—and let the arrangement of them be simple.”

“To see things simply is the hardest thing in the world.”

“Don’t think of things as objects, think of them as spots of color coming one against another.”

“Get into the habit of doing what you see, not what you know. Human reason cannot foresee the accidents of out of doors. Humble yourself before nature, it is too majestic for you to do it justice.”

“The surprise of truth…It’s a sad commentary that nothing is so startling as truth to human beings—in a canvas too.”

“I don’t know a better definition of an artist than one who is eternally curious.”