Botanical Inspiration

I took all of these pictures while driving through the English and French countryside.  I was amazed by all of the different colors and textures that occurred everywhere you looked.  None of these flowers or trees were found in gardens.   

 I have no idea what this tree is.  From afar, it looked as if the whole tree was covered in cotton candy.  Not until we got very close to it, was I able to see the strangest blooms I had ever seen.  

Clematis grew everywhere. Walls were covered- as if the vines knew these buildings were hundreds of years old and they needed a little sprucing up. 

I can not see a thistle without thinking about my best friend Victoria in Scotland.  The first time I ever traveled out of the country, I went to see her.  It was an amazing trip that changed me in many ways.  She picked a thistle for me before I left.  I pressed it in a very heavy encyclopedia, and kept it until it literally disintegrated in my hands.

When I became an art major in college, thistles were a consistent theme throughout my work.    

These thistles were growing all over the Cliffs of Dover- some were covered in spines...and others had purple tufts of petals on top.

 Even Queen Anne's Lace looked different there.  Still lacy and angelic, but the blooms are much bigger- a bouquet by themselves.

Walls of roses...

          ...and fields of grapes.

I have always been a sucker for nature.  It inspires me daily.