We traveled to the Texas Hill Country for a workshop this week, during the best wildflower bloom in five years. With flower peepin’, boot scootin’, and wine sippin’ on the menu, we stayed in the historic town of Fredericksburg – so much goodness, and cherry kolaches, too! I’ve shared some glimpses of the workshop and flower tours with you here. These artists tackled tulip fields, hydrangeas, lilacs and some figurative work, including painting a flower girl in a cute hat on canvas. Even with this long color checklist, we found time for a field trip to Wildseed Farms and a tasting at 4.0 Winery. There’s no rest for flower painters when the wildflowers arrive!

A visit to Fredericksburg isn’t complete unless you explore Willow City Loop, a winding lane through ranches and clifftops where the wild poppies and bluebonnets grow amidst cactus and Indian paintbrush. It’s been years since Indian paintbrush made a comeback (not to be confused with Indian blanket), since Central Texas has been battling a drought for such a long time. The rains over the past year have revived my favorite red flower, which once covered the fields of the organic farm where I grew up in East Texas.

I’m excited to be returning in just a few weeks, because one week in Freddy-burg just isn’t enough for the flower chasers of the world! Soon we’ll fill the car with easels and brushes, and all the accoutrements of the painter’s life, and head off for another blooming adventure to the birthplace of the wildflower seeding program created by the late Ladybird Johnson, aka “Wildflower Central”. Stay tuned flower friends: I’ll share new images with you from Wildflower Central soon!