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A jalapeno plant, with a blossom and a pepper, on a July day. This vegetable plant ran riot all summer, putting out flower after blossom after fruit the entire wet month. My husband was thrilled with the pepper plant's vigor and productivity, while I snapped a couple dozen photos in early July, with an eye to capturing the play of the various shades of green with some red fruit and white blossoms. In my mind, I wanted to capture the concept of "Christmas colors in July," and once I found the right reference photo I simplified the image to focus on this one section where all the color elements came together.

I often joke that I learned to draw and paint because it is easier and quicker for me than getting a good photograph. I do still make the attempt to use my camera more effectively from time to time, but I have more natural aptitude to using a pencil or paint. Often what few photographs I am satisfied with become reference for my artwork. I work with charcoal, soft pastels, oil pastels, watercolor, acrylic, and am learning oil painting. I tend towards more realistic, although I have dabbled in impressionism when the fancy strikes. I live at the dead end of a dirt road in rural Florida with my husband and a yardful of critters, while the local deer and wild turkeys eat my annual efforts at gardening.