Yesterday we cleaned up the front garden. My hydrangea bush had some incredible blooms on it this year. It was a joy to bring these inside. I found a lovely spot for them in my office. The background is a section of my abstract watercolour/rice paper collage which measures 40 3/4″ x 49 3/4″.

When I was a child we had two very large lilac bushes in our backyard. Every spring I would cut lilacs from these bushes and bring them in for my mother. She would go to the china cabinet and pull out this vase to hold them. Little did I know that this piece of American pottery was anything special. It is Red Wing RumRill art deco pottery with the number 629 on the base. The crochet table runner was made by my mother.

This was one of my final BFA pieces. My classmates, I’m sure, didn’t appreciate having to hop over this painting every day in order to get to their studio’s. I had to lay it on the floor with fans drying the large pools of watercolour. This process would take hours.

I love it because it was one of those pieces that I pushed beyond the breaking point and brought back. I thought it was trash, but my professor Adele Duck made me work it to death, or should I say back to life. I think I learned more on this one failed painting than in all my other works combined. Thank you Adele!

I photographed this in natural light. It’s a bit grainy because it is a cloudy day.