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Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers and never succeeding. - Marc Chagall

How true are these words! Not feeling like we succeed in capturing beauty, whether it is found in flowers, landscapes, portraits, or whatever we choose to paint, is what drives artists onward. We chase ethereal ideas that are forever out of our reach. Yet, that is a wondrous thing. What a gift!  To always imagine fresh, new ideas and wondering if you can capture them. A brief moment of time captured on a canvas lasts long after the moment it gone.

No matter how flowers are painted, in any conceivable style, they seem to appeal to people. Is it because their beauty is fleeting, like a sunset? Why do people plant gardens, flowerpots or have indoor flowers like African violets? Is it the nurturing instinct or the quest for beauty? Small stone fences contain our perennial gardens in about two thirds of our yard. Our growing season is so short here in the north. Every year we look forward to welcoming back old friends that have been sleeping through the long, cold winter. At the end of our short summers, we tend the flowerbeds with hope that the plants will survive the coming harsh weather, however extreme. Wildflowers are much tougher than their tame cousins. Domestic flowers surround me, yet I mostly paint the wild prairie flowers that I have or have seen. This gaillardia, or blanket flower was bravely growing in harsh prairie conditions. Can you feel the heat of the hot, summer sun? Hear the insects humming and the birds singing? Smell the aroma of green growing plants? This prairie beauty that was growing despite dry conditions, is tough and not perfect, yet in my eyes, it is truly beautiful.