Josephine Halvorson’s "Peony" is a vibrant, multipart painting composed of 25 acrylic gouache panels. Over the span of six weeks in the summer of 2022, Halvorson visited the site of the peony bush to paint en plein air. Each panel was produced in one sitting, representing a day of painting and collectively forming a type of visual calendar. Through her repeated visits, Halvorson witnessed the progressive transformation of the flowers and leaves, documenting shifts in growth and organic relationships between the bush and its surrounding environs. Upon closer looking, one can discern the slight discrepancies in tone, shape, and texture between adjacent panels. This lack of control over the condition and lifespan of the peony bush is of particular interest to Halvorson. Though the day-to-day appearance of her subject remained unpredictable, the full image created by the panels coheres through Halvorson’s painted translation of shifting daylight and the discrete interactions between light and shadow.