Blog / 2025 / Musings on Stupidity and Anti-productivity

Geraniums aren’t roses or even daisies: they aren’t the popular flower that people automatically like because everyone else does. But for those of us who do appreciate the geranium’s green and growing smell along with the shape of these plants, these flowers are so much more.

When I made this small painting of a geranium in 2021, I was musing on this flower’s ability to provoke love-it-or-hate-it feelings. Specifically, I was interested in the way a 19^th century snob managed to get the geranium associated with stupidity.

Last year, I remade that small painting into a much larger piece—a 3 by 2 foot composition. As I explain in the video showing the making of, it’s part of an anti-productivity kick I’m on right now, where I’m purposefully repeating myself in my art as a way to reclaim the relaxing aspect of painting.

And it turns out that this repetition is more well-received than geraniums themselves sometimes are. The 2024 version of the painting is currently on display at Monmouth Museum in Lincroft, New Jersey. It’s part of their 45^th Annual Juried Exhibition.

This week, I’ll be sending out this sticker to my monthly sticker club members. Hopefully it’ll help us all remember what’s really stupid, which is to say society’s obsession with the productivity and newness as well as some people’s need to be really judgey about a flower—or, say, a toad.

To learn more about the sticker club and how you can join it, go here.