On a warm summer day, a little girl grabs her basket and heads out to a patch of Black-Eyed Susan flowers in the backyard garden.
As children have a tendency to do, she plucks the heads of the flowers and avoids the stems because, in a child's mind, the prettiest part of the flower are the blossoms and the petals; that's where all the color is. The stems are simply these long, lanky green things that, in the little girl's opinion, are simply uninteresting.
When she presents this basket of beauty -- to her mother, we imagine, or perhaps to an aunt or grandmother -- the recipient will smile and receive this treasure of golden glow with grace, not wanting at all to spoil the smile on the child's face.
The flowers are a gift of love from a little girl to one she loves, and they are a gift, as well, from nature to all of us who take time to see them.
I am a fine art painter who focuses on creating images of light, life, joy and beauty. I live on a small farm in a rural area of the western U.S., where life is quiet, calm, and in tune with nature. I seek to paint.. Read more…