Fall in Love… With Reading

Medium: Acrylic, marble powder, and layered book pages on canvas
Dimensions: 20 x 20 inches
Date: May 2016

Collector’s Notes

Composition
The canvas blossoms with an intricate arrangement of flowers and leaves, each formed from layered book pages and painted into vivid autumnal forms. At the left, a small window with a bird perched upon it serves as a focal point, while another bird glides across the surface. A delicate butterfly appears in the upper corner, symbolizing transformation and lightness.

Color & Light
Warm sienna, amber, and golden tones intermingle with earthy greens, contrasted against a deepened backdrop of indigo and burgundy. The interplay of warmth and shadow mirrors both the richness of fall and the timeless depth of imagination.

Medium & Texture
By embedding book pages into the canvas and layering with marble powder and acrylics, the work achieves both sculptural relief and visual depth. The tactile qualities encourage closer engagement, allowing the viewer to discover text hidden beneath painted forms.

Style & Story
This piece was inspired by the startling realization that the modern human attention span has diminished to less than that of a goldfish. I turned to the timeless act of reading as a remedy, embedding fragments of text within the foliage to remind us of literature’s power to restore focus, memory, and presence.

Emotional Connection
The birds, one perched at a window and the other in flight, embody the freedom of imagination unlocked through books. The butterfly suggests soaring thought and transformation, while the autumn leaves evoke knowledge as nourishment, ever-renewing.

Context & Significance
Created in 2016, the work responds to our increasingly digitalized lives and the distractions they bring. It is both a visual protest against dwindling attention and a celebration of the magic and peace that reading offers.

Message from the Artist

Fall in Love… With Reading was inspired by a troubling truth — that our ability to focus has declined dramatically in the digital age. I wanted to create a reminder of the profound joy and quiet strength found in books.

The leaves and flowers in this piece are born from printed pages, layered with texture and color to form a garden of words. The window and perched bird represent the endless possibilities that reading opens, while the bird in flight and the butterfly carry the spirit of freedom and transformation that literature brings.

For me, this painting is both a personal meditation and an invitation. It speaks to the peace of being absorbed in a story, the wonder of discovery, and the timeless nourishment of the written word. My hope is that it inspires you to reconnect with the magic of getting lost in a book.