Sweet memories of California travels flood my mind when I look at this painting. I just finished it and absolutely love the way the flower begs to be touched and sniffed. I think it’s some type of Sedum – I’m not sure. It’s just as pretty here as it was pretty growing on the Bay of San Francisco

Every morning while we were in California, the girls and I would take a stroll on the walking trails outside our hotel. The hotel and walking trails overlooked the San Francisco Bay and wound past some beautiful plant life.

One of the things we would do on our walks was count the pretty pink and yellow flowers growing riotously on the side of the Bay. The girls would run from one to the next, finding another gem. Karlista and I reminded Valeigha repeatedly that the flowers were there to be pretty, not picked.

The girls were 10 and 2 then. A year has passed and the girls have grown; still, those memories are trapped in this painting and make me smile.