Market Flowers

Original Painting by Nancy Martini

Oil Paint on Canvas - 48"(H) 36" (W) 2" (D)  / 122cm (H) 91cm (W) 5cm (D)

Whenever I travel, one of my favorite rituals is to buy a beautiful, bright bouquet of flowers from a local street vendor. It may seem like a small gesture, but those flowers serve many purposes.

First, I’m supporting the local economy and flowers have a way of opening doors and conversations. Walking down the street with a colorful bouquet makes it easier to connect with the people around me—and somehow, I look a little less like a tourist and a little more like I belong.

I’ve even discovered that flowers can be practical. While surveying the unpredictable motorcycles flying through the streets of Bangkok, I learned that carrying a bright bouquet makes it much easier for drivers and pedestrians to spot me when I’m crossing the street.

But my main reason to buy flowers is the simplest one: they make an unfamiliar place feel welcoming. I can be thousands of miles away from home, surrounded by streets, sounds, and faces I don’t recognize, and yet, when I look down at the flowers in my arms suddenly I’m home.