Recently, I was invited to donate a piece of my work to a silent auction benefiting the art program of a local high school. It was such an honor to be asked to be involved in this as it is a cause very close to my heart! As a former art teacher in the public school system, I know first hand how quickly the budget money disappears, often before the year is even close to being over! I was so happy to contribute to such a good cause!

We now live in the Hill Country area of Texas and it's beauty of full trees, rolling hills, rocky cliffs and of course breathtaking wildflowers has truly been inspiring me! I chose to create a mixed media piece illustrating the beauty of one of our gorgeous wildflowers, the Indian Paintbrush!

I just love the vibrancy of this flower! It also always reminds me of a favorite childhood book, The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, by Tomie dePaolo. I of course love the Texas Bluebonnet as well, but this time decided to create inspired by this orange, fiery beauty! Here is my interpretation:

Indian Paintbrush by Jennifer Snellings, Mixed media, 11"x14"

I was so excited with how this turned out! I love that I was able to capture the vibrant color of the flowers against the turquoise and aqua blues in the background. They complement each other very nicely! Here is a look into my process:

Here you see the beginning layers of the painting, the paint, paper, more paint textures and stamps all combining to form several layers of goodness! Once the foundation was created, I began to focus on the focal point, the flowers themselves. They were created with torn paper from magazines.

Once the flowers were pieced together, the painting was ready for its finishing touches. I added the verse and brought everything together with some additional paint here and there. I'm so thrilled to share that this piece was successfully auctioned and is now hanging in its new home!

Thanks so much for stopping by and viewing my new work!