Here, the artist focuses on part of the plant normally hidden under the petal of the rose.  As we explore the painting, we come across a tiny worm munching on leaves, juxtaposing life with its expiration. This awakens us to the story of this plant’s evolution. Walser-Kolar composes the withering plant’s stages of life through gestural movements within the stems.   She adds drama with the variegated vellum, an intentional choice to marry the subject to the substrate. Her masterful ability to capture the leafs structure, building color through a dry brush technique, inventively pulling the vellum through the worm holes, contributes to the painting’s overall mood.   One relishes the opportunity to see part of the plant world unintended by nature.  From beginning to end, a love story of plant and person.

My Dad’s Garden (Morden’s Blush rose hips), 2020
watercolor on vellum
10 x 9.5 inches