THIS WEEK I completed my first painting since living in my new apartment, working in my new studio. It's called Iris fulva which is the scientific name of our native Copper Iris, that grows in the bottomlands and swamps of Southern Illinois and further south. Following on the Flora of Southern Illinois series—which is no longer in my possession, I gave it as a present to our course instructor—I was inspired by botanical illustrations and herbaria, and to try turning up the volume on that.

Something is reassuring and nurturing about plants in art: plants rendered well, with both care and attention—the patterns are so deeply wired into the most ancient layers of our nervous system that we respond to them feel at home and at one. Two years ago... last year?... I painted a big Southern Magnolia flower for my sister Michelle at her request. I took great care to communicate the energy and life of the plant, its inner vitality—I researched on foot all the Magnolias in town I could get up close to, in person! And this is before I worked at the Nursery. Shades of things to come ;o)

The challenge of painting plants as subjects is that I don't want them—*my* plants—to be 'decorative.' But to be points of attention and focus in their own right. I hope that this small painting communicates the inner vitality and nobility of a gorgeous, precious native plant <3