Water Lily Bud

A mixed-media work — paints, monotype, and more — but with a technique that makes it different from the famous Monet lilies pictures: I used the leaves themselves as stamps, pressing their round forms directly into the print.

Because the leaves deserve their own attention. Everyone waits for the white flower crowns to emerge between them in spring, and they are worth waiting for — brilliant against dark green water and a cloudy sky. But the round leaves, before any bloom, are already near-abstract compositions. Each one is finished in itself, a pattern complete.

So I let the leaves map the image out themselves. This is my nature theme tipping toward abstraction — the beauty of the plant while it's still only promising its flower.

An original monotype. Signed.

Jolanta