{Ghost Rose Art By Kate Lentz}

 

When I was a kid, everything was covered in roses. My mom had a thing for them: the wall paper, chair upholstery, lamps, framed pictures. Even my dresses.  I swore that when I grew up, I would never want to see another rose. But the truth is, roses have followed me. I found an old bottle of perfume that I wore when I was sixteen. I uncapped the bottle and the smell wafted all around me. I had forgotten it was rose-scented. My brain immediately went back in time to when I had an embarrassing pixie haircut and played bass guitar in a glam band. 

 

A few years ago, I went back to school to study art. By the time I had realized I was interested in art, I was pretty behind. My classmates were all a full decade younger than me, but they had been drawing since they could hold a pencil. I struggled in my studio classes because I hated drawing...or at least...I thought I did.

 

What I really hated was the fact that I had a million ideas in my head, but had no technical skill to bring those ideas to life. One of the ways I practiced was to create a simple pattern. Shapes that I could copy over and over again as I gained confidence. Developing muscle memory and getting used to having a sketchbook by my side at any given moment. At first, I would draw circles...endless circles and dots. Until one day, I started drawing something with a little more substance. They were more abstract, loose, almost cartoony. At first, I didn’t even really identify them as anything, just...a random pattern. But the more I made them, the more I realized just what they were. Soon, it became almost like my signature. They appeared in a lot of my art. When someone finally asked me what it was, I responded with a faint smile and said, “Ghost Roses.”

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