Flo’

Flo’ was painted in November 2018 as part of Downtown Art Beats, a Raleigh public art initiative inviting artists to create small semi-permanent sidewalk interventions throughout downtown. The original call was issued by the City of Raleigh Department of Transportation and the Raleigh Arts Office in partnership with Artspace and the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, with artists selected to install work across the downtown district.

Installed on S Salisbury St., directly behind the Raleigh Marriott City Center and across from the Raleigh Convention Center, Flo’ translated one of my intuitive paintings into a public-facing mural designed to surprise pedestrians with color, confidence, and a little delight. The original painting, Go With the Flow, later went on to support the arts through donation to the VAE Auction & Gala.

The Call

When I applied to the Downtown Art Beats call, I had only officially painted one mural before — my April 2018 mural at Imurj — so I relied on that wall and several completed paintings to communicate my visual language. The call asked artists to submit five images of previous work and a brief concept proposal, with finalists then asked to submit a drawing of their proposal before installation.

The selection team was especially drawn to the painting with the blue-haired figure and felt that its flat-color, pop-art sensibility would work well for the sidewalk format and the site assigned to me. I was asked whether I would create something in a similar style for the mural, and I gladly said yes.

Inspiration

The mural’s title, Flo’, comes from my intuitive painting Go With the Flow. In that original painting, I had no set objective beyond creating art and allowing the image to emerge through instinct and response. My understanding of intuitive painting is that it is led by intuition rather than conscious planning — a process of listening, letting go, and allowing forms to reveal themselves over time.

In Go With the Flow, the figure appeared first, and the scene unfolded around her: lava-like forms, water, flowers, a sunset sky, and the feeling of someone calm and self-possessed in the midst of volatility. The title worked on several levels — lava flow, water flow, flowing hair, and the creative state of flow itself — and it felt natural to begin calling the figure Flo’.

Rendering

Before painting the sidewalk mural, I created a digital rendering in Adobe Illustrator. That step became an important bridge between intuitive painting and public art. In the original canvas, the final image was discovered as I worked. With the mural, I needed to understand how Flo’ would live in public space before paint ever touched the ground.

I stayed true to the original painting, but I also made practical decisions based on the fact that this was my first sidewalk mural, I was unfamiliar with the paint and substrate, and I would be painting in full public view. Rather than overcomplicate the design, I chose to simplify the background into broad, flat areas of color so the piece could remain strong, clear, and achievable at scale.

Design Decisions

Several changes were made as Flo’ moved from intuitive painting to sidewalk mural. I extended her lower body because the original crop from the canvas would have looked incomplete at mural scale. I changed her outfit from a bikini to a yellow tank and patterned skirt or dress so she would feel more appropriate to a downtown Raleigh setting while still preserving the energy of the original figure.

I also simplified the background so the mural would read clearly in public space and remain manageable to execute on an unfamiliar surface with unfamiliar materials. At one point I considered removing the water altogether, but then I remembered that North Carolina’s landscape includes hills, mountains, and bodies of water. My first thought was Lake Johnson Park in Raleigh. Having walked those paved greenways around the lake on multiple occasions, I know firsthand that the terrain there is hilly. In the end, I kept the body of water as a subtle grounding element, but simplified it along with the rest of the setting so the focus could remain on Flo’.

I added a phone, headphones, and music notes so she would feel like someone you might realistically pass in the city. These decisions were not about abandoning the original painting, but about translating it into a public-facing work that could hold its own in downtown Raleigh.

Finding My Flo’

Very soon after naming the original painting, I knew the figure herself was Flo’ — short for flow, not Florence — because even though she came from my imagination, she had begun to feel real to me. The digital rendering only deepened that feeling. I could already sense that she might appear again in future work.

One of the things that mattered most to me was keeping her open enough for other people to see themselves in her. In earlier mural work, I had already experienced how powerful it could be when people felt recognized in the figures I painted. That feeling stayed with me. I did not want Flo’ locked into one narrow identity or story. I wanted her to remain spacious enough that viewers could bring their own associations, experiences, and imagination to her.

Who Is Flo’?

I’ve been asked whom she represents, but I prefer not to define her too narrowly. As I translated the painting into its digital form, I considered different possibilities for who she might be and where she might be going. With a background in web design, I was familiar with the idea of personas, and I found myself thinking through possible narratives for her in a similar way. But in the end, I realized that assigning one fixed identity would take something away. I wanted Flo’ to remain open enough that different people could see themselves, someone they know, or some other possibility reflected in her.

Style

When it comes to painting people, my work leans more toward animated, essence-driven characters than lifelike portraiture. That makes sense given my graphic design background, but it is also a genuine preference. What interests me most is not realism for its own sake, but creating figures that carry feeling, energy, and presence. With Flo’, I wanted people to look at her and feel happiness.

Final Thought

For me, Flo’ carries the spirit of flow itself — movement, music, confidence, and that spark of inner life I hope people feel when they encounter her. She began in intuition, became clearer through digital rendering, and finally landed in the path of everyday pedestrians as a small invitation to pause, imagine, and delight in the unexpected.

Title: Flo'
Size: 9' h x 7' w
Site/City: S. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 
Medium: Porch & deck paint.
Date: April 2018.