There is something quietly enduring about a rose. It doesn't rush to impress. It opens slowly, petal by petal, holding both structure and softness in perfect tension. After exploring magnolias and the language of joy through poppies in my previous In Bloom series, it felt inevitable to arrive here, to the rose, a subject that carries both history and emotion in equal measure.
This collection, Roses in Bloom, brings together a series of my watercolour paintings that explore roses at every stage: fresh, unfolding, fully open, and even those on the verge of fading. Because beauty doesn't disappear with time, it changes form.
This series will be on view during my upcoming exhibitions this season, including Riverdale ArtWalk and Art in the Park. (You can find details and dates on my exhibition page here.
A Flower Steeped in History
Roses have been cultivated for over 5,000 years, with origins tracing back to ancient China. They've appeared in mythology, medicine, and art across cultures, from the symbolic roses in Roman banquets to their layered meanings in Victorian floriography, where each colour conveyed a different message.
Red roses, of course, became synonymous with love, but historically, roses have also represented secrecy (the term sub rosa, meaning “under the rose”), resilience, and even transformation. Their presence in gardens like Ottawa's Experimental Farm continues that long lineage, blending cultivated beauty with natural rhythm.
Last fall, I spent time photographing roses at the Experimental Farm, studying how light moves across their surfaces, how petals curl, thin, and soften at the edges. This year, I'm planning a visit to the Montreal Botanical Garden to continue that research because roses are never quite the same twice.
Roses in Motion
What fascinates me most is not the “perfect” rose, but the ones in transition.
In this series, several pieces focus on roses that are fading. Their colours soften, their edges loosen, and their structure becomes more expressive. These are not flowers in decline, they are flowers in movement.
There is a kind of freedom in that stage. A looseness that feels almost like breath.
Painting these roses allows me to explore gesture in a different way. Instead of holding form tightly, I let the pigment travel. Edges blur. Water takes on a more active role. The result is something less controlled, but often more alive.
From a Watercolour Perspective
Roses invite a different kind of attention.
For me, they are less about precision and more about presence, about noticing how a bloom holds itself in a particular moment. Some feel structured and centred, while others seem to drift, their petals opening beyond any fixed shape.
In painting them, I'm drawn to that contrast. The quiet discipline of the form, and the softness that inevitably unsettles it. Especially in the fading roses, where structure gives way to movement, there's a sense of release that feels essential to the series.
Watercolour, in this context, becomes less about control and more about response, about allowing the painting to echo the natural rhythm of the flower itself.
A Season of Showing
This body of work will be part of my upcoming outdoor exhibitions, including:
These events are an opportunity to experience the paintings in person, to see the scale, the texture of the paper, and the subtle layering that doesn't always translate digitally.
If you're in Toronto or Ottawa this season, they're well worth visiting, not just for my work, but for the incredible community of artists they bring together.
Continuing the In Bloom Series
This new collection follows Magnolias in Bloom and Happiness in Bloom, my poppy series, where bold colour and movement take centre stage.
Happiness in Bloom will be on display at Melt Studio and Gallery beginning May 16, with a selection of original works available to view on my original art page here.
While the poppies lean into vibrancy and immediacy, Roses in Bloom shifts into something quieter and more layered, an exploration of form, transition, and the subtle beauty found in change.
Together, these collections form an evolving conversation, each one rooted in observation, but guided by a different emotional tone.
A Poetic Companion
Roses do not rush their becoming.
They gather light in quiet folds,
hold colour like a secret,
and open only when they are ready.
Some arrive in brilliance
bold, structured, certain.
Others soften at the edges,
their beauty slipping gently into air.
But even in fading,
they do not disappear.
They loosen.
They move.
They become something else entirely.
And in that moment
somewhere between holding on and letting go
they are perhaps most themselves.
This series is, in many ways, a continuation of what I've been exploring all along: how flowers can carry emotion, movement, and time within them. Roses just happen to say it a little more quietly.
"Butterfly Waltz", original watercolour on paper, framed, 33 1/8 in (h) x 29 1/8 in (w).
If you'd like to see Roses in Bloom in person, I'd love to connect with you at one of the upcoming shows. And if a particular piece speaks to you, feel free to reach out, these works are meant to be lived with, not just looked at.
Thank you for reading. I hope these roses find their way into your world.
BK