After years of nature-based artwork, in Spring 2020 I became an Anthomaniac. Covid was raging in NYC so I retreated with my family Northwest Connecticut. Nature, for so many of us, became hugely important during isolation. It was exhilarating to see the minute changes of the seasons especially the first blooms of Spring. All the foliage had names and provenances! A rare few were native wildflowers but many were world travelers. While the pandemic was raging we weren’t allowed to travel but the foliage that I saw around me represented the gardens of the world: peonies from Eurasia, tulips from Turkey, nasturtiums from Mexico, searching for the native poppy, delphinium and columbine. In my garden I cultivated co-existence between native and non-native species. My watercolor collages feel like collaborations with mother nature. I paint from living, scent emitting wild flowers or ones that I’ve grown in my garden. It’s exciting: I have to work fast, they don’t last. I want to use the actual plantsso I press them yielding unpredictable impossibly fragile collage elements. Photography, fabric and other elements blur the distinction between the real and the artificial. Is there any place on the planet where man hasn’t impacted nature? I want to draw attention to the beauty, power and fragility of nature and the important role we have in protecting it.