African Peacock Violets - Oil painting 24(h)x18(w)cm framed

African Peacock Violets
Oil on panel

In African Peacock Violets, Leone Tonkinson transforms a simple bouquet into a meditation on grace and presence. The blossoms, with their velvety purples and flashes of gold at the throat, fan outward like the feathers of their namesake bird. Nestled in a delicate porcelain vase adorned with fine blue linework, the flowers seem to balance between fragility and strength — each petal unfolding with quiet confidence.

As part of the Petals & Presence series, the work explores the dialogue between vessel and bloom, containment and flourishing. The fallen stem, curling toward the edge of the table, draws the eye downward, reminding us that beauty also rests in what slips beyond the frame, in what cannot be contained.

Here, violets are more than ornament: they become emissaries of presence, embodying a lush vitality that holds both the intimacy of the domestic and the grandeur of the wild. Through her attentive brushwork, Tonkinson allows us to witness a fleeting moment of life stilled into permanence, a conversation between form, color, and the timeless language of flowers.