Roadside Poppies

**Roadside Poppies** A cheerful gathering of California poppies takes center stage in this vibrant mixed-media collage. With their brilliant orange petals, slender stems, and loosely drawn outlines, the flowers seem to reach and lean toward one another, creating an energetic composition full of movement and personality. Beneath and around the flowers, layers of vintage maps, sheet music, printed text, and nostalgic imagery create a visual landscape rich with history and unexpected discoveries. A glimpse of an old automobile, fragments of handwritten script, and snippets of printed language become part of the story, inviting the viewer to look closer and find something new with each viewing. The contrasting yellow-green and soft blue background provides a lively setting for the saturated orange blossoms, while bold black graphic elements add rhythm and structure. Blending botanical imagery with found materials and expressive drawing, this painting celebrates the beauty of familiar things and the memories they evoke. Like the poppies themselves, it is bright, resilient, and unapologetically cheerful. **12" x 12" | Mixed media on gallery-wrapped canvas**