Violet is my mother in her youth, her portrait painted over lilies, trees, and various other natural images referencing her love of the natural world and the amazing garden she cultivated. She is pictured in her early twenties, always young, but the rich texture reference the next six decades of life she experienced. The paper is broken and worn, adding the the effect of history and events in a long life lived well.

This portrait is the third version of this piece. This was originally 24"x36" and then split into multiple 12"x9" pieces which changed once into the Lilies and trees, now reunited into one piece. The changes of breaking a larger piece into smaller ones and then reassembling them with their separate images becoming the background for the larger portrait, along with the texture from multiple overlays of painting and sanding.