A bunch of grapes growing upside down on a stem shooting from the ground? That is what I imagined the first time I saw this hardy little flower years ago. Now it appears in my garden in the early Spring, struggling to make its presence known among the dried leaves and debris from a winter's past. A perky little flower that looks good enough to eat...or... perhaps salad to the grazing deer looking for tasty morsels to curb their ravenous appetites.

Deer are not supposed to like any of the hyacinth species, but hunger will drive them to eat just about anything and my flowers are targets to their meanderings and consequently floral devastation prevails in the perennial garden. Fortunately this little gem did not make it to the salad bowl this time!

A photo was used for reference to create a digital painting of the same. Artistic license was taken to modify the background, intensify the color and add depth and texture. Multiple versions were created and interchangeably used to paint a successive image until rendering the final image as seen here. A textured border was added to complement and frame the image in a "natural-like" setting.

I enjoy creating new and richer paintings using both Studio Artist and Photoshop, which consume hours of my time, but give me great satisfaction. The enlarged view accurately illustrates my digital painting techniques.