One day I was at the Burden Rural Life Center in the spring, taking photos of things I might want to paint for an upcoming show, I saw this beautiful flower - the light was striking it just right and putting rest of the bush in shadow.  It was one of MANY photos I shot that day and I just put it away with the rest.  Then a year later I was looking for some new subject to paint and I found the photo again - and the contrast again grabbed my fancy!  I tend to paint fairly slowly but this one came together so fast I was surprised - and I think it is one of my best!  

Inspriation is always just around the corner - but sometimes it's stashed away with a bunch of photos on your computer!  Time to dig back into my thousands of photos and see what other little gem is waiting for me!