This piece was painted from a photo I took while hiking in Snowmass, Colorado, in 2020. The trails were covered in them — tall, broad, full, thick, and yet delicate blooms that felt almost sculptural in person. To capture that feeling, I started with modeling paste, building up the flowers like cake icing, using only a ziplock bag, a palette knife, and my brush for softening and shaping. That experience ended up being a turning point for me artistically. When I got back home to Alabama, I started noticing our own native species, and that set the direction for the work I’m creating now.