This painting and my other milkweed themed art has a unique story: One of my first paintings I created when diving back into my art career after a break to focus on being a mother, I made this to express my love for flowers and the purpose they have in this world. Not only do they bring beauty, which is a major theme I try to bring up in my work, but they nurture and feed and house the tiny creatures of this earth. This, a tropical milkweed, nourishes one of the most epic of insects: the Monarch butterfly. I struggled to represent this intricate plant without sticking to the "realism" that is easiest for me - to go on auto pilot and just paint what I see. Pushing myself, I added strategic brush strokes and colors that forced it out of it's environment a bit and included my interpretations of the plant - what would only be the beginning of a drawn out series of milkweed paintings made in the spring/summer of each year to document my artistic journey.
