I'm honored to share that one of my paintings has been accepted into the 2026 Oil Painters of America National Salon, hosted by Cassens Fine Art in Hamilton, Montana. The National Salon is one of Oil Painters of America's premier juried exhibitions, bringing together approximately 180 representational oil paintings by Master Signature, Signature, and Associate members from across North America. The exhibition showcases an extraordinary range of subjects—from still life and florals to landscapes, wildlife, and figurative work—highlighting the strength and diversity of contemporary representational painting.

As a floral painter, it is especially meaningful to have my work included alongside so many accomplished artists whose dedication to craftsmanship and the tradition of oil painting continues to inspire me. Creating each painting is an opportunity to preserve a fleeting moment of beauty. My work is rooted in the quiet poetry of flowers—their elegance, resilience, and ability to evoke memories and emotions. To have this painting recognized by Oil Painters of America is both an encouragement and a reminder of why I continue to paint.

The exhibition will be on view July 31 through August 29, 2026, at Cassens Fine Art in Hamilton, Montana, with the opening reception and awards ceremony taking place on Friday, July 31. More than $30,000 in awards will be presented during the exhibition.

Thank you to everyone who has supported my journey—whether you've collected a painting, visited an exhibition, followed along online, or simply encouraged my work. Your support makes milestones like this even more meaningful. If you're able to visit the exhibition, I hope you'll stop by and experience this outstanding collection of representational art in person.

Garden in May by Maria Oakey Dewing, ca. 1895, oil on canvas 23 5/8 x 32 1/2 in. (60.1 x 82.5 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly

I love the work of Maria Oakey Dewing. She captured the wild beauty of her garden with its intertwined stems and frilly blooms. Her passion for gardening, as well as painting, is evident in this amazing artwork. In many of her paintings, the garden is seen as if through the viewpoint of a butterfly, close to the ground with a flourish of overlapping blooms. And May is the month when the garden comes to a crescendo of spring blossoms with the first opening of roses.

“The flower offers a removed beauty that exists only for beauty, more abstract than it can be in the human being, even more exquisite. One may begin with the human figure at the logical and realistic, but in painting the flower one must even begin at the exquisite and distinguished.” 

— Maria Oakey Dewing, Art and Progress, 1915

Her composition is almost circular showing a lush garden starting with the delightful smaller white blooms, then leading the viewer's eye to the focal point of the larger pink rose on the right. Its warm pink hues are offset by the contrast of the deep green foilage and her sharpest edges rest there. She captures the dense foliage and layers of petals, creating a sense of depth and texture. The flowers are intricately painted with attention to light and shadow, adding realism to the image and her masterful use of hard and soft edges guide you to what she wants you to see in her lovely garden.

Delicate Beauty

Roses by Abbott Handerson Thayer, ca. 1890, oil, 56.6 x 79.7 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly

This is one of my favorite paintings at the Smithsonian by Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921).

Thayer was best known for his idealistic paintings of women as angels and madonnas, but to me this beautiful still life touches me the most.

His color palette and fluid application of paint makes these roses sublime! The composition is interesting with a cascade of roses flowing from the larger soft pink roses moving the viewer's eyes in an arc to the white roses on the right. He then brings the impact of the focal white rosebud on the right that is touching the blue vase, by using the greatest polarity: strongest contrast of light and dark and the strongest use of hard edges. Compare that edges and contrast on the focal rose to the softer dropping pink rose on the left.

The leaves are secondary with just enough descriptive information for the viewer to tell which side of the leaf is showing: the beautiful grey-blue indicates the back of the leaf and the darker warmer green indicates the front of the leaf. The vase is beautifully rendered with a glimpse of a warm undertone peeking through with a striking blue hue that indicates the glaze. The background and tabletop are loosely rendered with just enough color change to support the main attraction of the roses and add interest. 

Detail: Prayers for Ukraine, oil 8 x 10.

A brushstroke is a splotch of paint, but it also shows the personality and thought process of the artist. Have you ever wished you could follow along with an artist in their studio? Investigate the brushstrokes of a master painting and it is like seeing the footsteps and movements of a dancer . . . each movement created for a specific reason. Thick and thin, energetic and calm, all of these strokes can establish not only the foundation of a painting but set the mood as well.

Detail: The Japanese Vase, oil 8 x 10.

8 tips for better brushstrokes:

1. Use more paint. Load the brush to allow the juicy paint to show–especially in the focal area. Often when first learning to paint artists are too miserly with the amount of paint that they mix and place on the brush.

Pansies, 6 x 6, oil on panel.

2. Create contrast with thin paint. Use thin paint in the background or in other areas to create polarity and interest by  juxtaposing thick and thin passages. Drippy paint thinned with Gamsol can create some interesting effects.

3. Start with a big brush. Lay the foundation by starting with the largest brush. This will help to nail down the big picture (foundation) and delay the details. Starting a painting is like building a home. The foundation must happen first before picking out the details or the house will not be built with integrity. Start painting the large shapes with large brushes and then use smaller brushes to add more nuances. (Try this painting exercise: force yourself to use the biggest brush you can to start with.)

4. Use a variety of brushes. Learn and experiment with different types of bristles and shapes: synthetics, natural fibers, stiff ones (hog hair), soft ones (sable), flats, filberts, new brushes, and even old battered brushes. Experiment with them all and get to know what you can do with them. An old, splayed out brush can make some interesting marks!

5. Use different directions. Don’t apply all the brushstrokes in one direction . . .altering the direction will add interest. For example: vertical, horizontal, following with the form or not.

6. Use the sides and tops of your brush. Using the top edge or the side of a brush can give the stroke a different look when using the same brush. For example, flat brushes can give you thin lines if you use the top edge to apply paint. Filbert brushes have the advantage of being both a flat and a round brush depending on how you angle the brush.

7. Make each stroke count. Look twice and put once. Think about what you are trying to convey with the paint before you put it down. Master painters of the past have often been described as holding their brushes above the canvas and pausing before placing the stroke.

8. Put it and leave it. Don’t kill the paint but allow it to sing! A bad stroke applied with confidence will look better than noodling or licking the canvas (going over the same area and messing with it.) Either leave the stroke or scrape it off with a knife and then reapply.

Try this for a practice Idea: Create a small painting as you normally would. Then paint it again on another canvas (same size) but this time think about density, opacity, shape, size, energy, three-dimensionality, visual direction (with the form or not), and varying the force used to apply the paint. Create polarity between the focal area and the background by adding more interest in the focal point with thicker paint application and make the background thinner and more subtle.

In January of this 2023, I joined other artists in participating in the Strada Easel 31-day Challenge of creating from life. This time I wanted to have some fun with watercolor. I love the fluid and freeing nature of this medium and I often take advantage of some of the spontaneous “accidents” that add beauty to a work.

Keeping a sketchbook is a great way to explore ideas and different media as an artist. It can also capture thumbnails and color schemes to help solve problems before painting a larger piece. Working every day, even for minutes, can help pay dividends as an artist. There is always something more to learn and explore!

Below is a sampling of some of the floral creations I created in watercolor for the Strada Easel Challenge.