This piece was created for the February Flower of the Month show--I have not entered many shows lately and wanted to get this one in before the deadline! I wanted to do something colourful with lots of texture--I have used glass beads, gold foil (unfortunately the "imitation Italian" i.e. not real gold kind), a stucco texture gel made for use with acrylics, and scraping-in with a knife (which you can see in some of the leaves). I had a lot of fun working on this piece and feel that it is part of a new and developing style in my work! My sister Emily is going to be receiving this painting as a gift--she will be happy about this show deadline too, since it means I finally finished it up!