Flower VIII – modern painting with a floral motif

A flower as a symbol of beauty

Hardly any motif stands so naturally for beauty, growth and harmony as the flower. In Blume VIII, it first appears clear, friendly and familiar. The large petals, the strong stem and the radiant colours create an immediate presence.

But the apparent simplicity does not hold for long. The form remains intact, while its execution increasingly opens up. Traces of paint, overlays and visible interventions reveal that the flower cannot be fully controlled.

This creates an image between stability and change.

Schmiertafel – When even beauty becomes uncertain

The series Schmiertafel explores widely familiar pictorial signs such as flowers, smileys, trees, or figures. These are simple forms that everyone recognizes and whose meaning seems firmly established.

In Flower VIII, it is precisely this self-evidence that is called into question. The flower remains present as a symbol of beauty and harmony, yet its inner order begins to shift. Clear contours contrast with open color areas, visible corrections, and spontaneous interventions. What initially seems stable slowly starts to move.

The work speaks of the fragility of familiar certainties. Beauty does not disappear, but it no longer appears unassailable. From small shifts, a pictorial space emerges between order, change, and openness.

Radiant colours and modern oil painting

The painting lives from strong contrasts. Yellow, green, pink and orange create a bright, almost optimistic atmosphere. At the same time, numerous traces of the painting process remain visible.

The properties of oil paint reinforce this impression. Layers overlap, transitions remain open, and earlier decisions seem to live on beneath the surface. This creates a lively pictorial structure that keeps changing the longer you look at it.

Between children’s drawing and contemporary art

The simple flower shape recalls early drawings and widely known pictorial signs. It is precisely this familiarity that makes it the ideal starting point for the Schmiertafel series.

The flower does not serve as a botanical depiction but as a symbol. It provides orientation while the painting develops its own dynamic. In this way, Blume VIII moves between simple form, free gesture and contemporary visual language.

Original painting by Mark Hellbusch

Blume VIII is a one-of-a-kind original from my studio in Wiesbaden. The work belongs to the Schmiertafel series and combines familiar pictorial signs with experimental oil painting and an open, process-based way of working.

Discover more works

The series Schmiertafel includes flowers, smileys, trees, and other familiar signs. Together they form a body of work about beauty, change, and the question of how stable even the simplest certainties of our visual world actually are.

Smear board,

large formats and

colorful paintings

I have been a freelance painter since 1997 and have worked with a wide variety of themes in painting. While until 2007 I was occupied almost exclusively with expressive painting, today my focus lies more on experimental art. My personal background, as well as almost all artistic themes can be found under “About us.”

Studio in Wiesbaden – viewings by appointment.

Direct purchase and shipping also available.