Mixed media on 8×10” wood cradled panel, 3/4” thick with periwinkle painted sides.

FLORA

This piece is my homage to the breathtaking flora that thrives in and around Los Angeles. Thanks to our mild Mediterranean climate, the City of Angels bursts with blooms year-round. I snapped the reference photo for this painting on a quiet, hilltop street in Silverlake, where a charming home was nearly consumed by a cascade of pink and fuchsia bougainvillea, with peachy-pink roses standing along the fence.

Growing up in Burbank, summer nights were filled with the intoxicating scent of night-blooming jasmine. In spring, orange blossoms perfumed the air, and the gardenias on my grandparents’ porch left such an impression on me that I wore a single bloom in my hair on my wedding day. Their backyard was draped with a massive wisteria vine, spilling white and purple blooms as far as the eye could see.

Few things make me happier than the plants, flowers, and trees of Southern California. Our proximity to the desert brings sculptural cacti and succulents, while spring rains awaken bursts of color—fiery orange California poppies and golden mustard grass stretching across the hills. Then, in May and June, the Jacaranda trees put on their grand performance, cloaking the city in brilliant purple. What we lack in traditional fall foliage, we more than make up for with a summer spectacle unlike anywhere else.