“I am a longtime resident of Escondido and I really wanted to be in this show.

I like to do plein air and capture the moment. A lot of what comes out on the canvas is our interpretations of what we see.

I conceived of this image during COVID. It was such a gray and rather depressing period. I was anxious to work on something uplifting and bright.

I saw this pattern of sunflowers on the side of an old barn. I love that rustic look. And sunflowers are happy. We refer to them as “sunflowers” because they follow the sun during the day.

I thought that sunflowers peeking out through the fence with a purple-blue background against the brick wall would look good.

It was fun, happy and very freeing to paint.”