Los Angeles Sunflower

This collage was started "Plein Air", which for me constitutes cutting motifs from paper outside though observation. Then I finish at home, painting and adhering the pieces down, then settling on the final composition. Lastly I embroidered the words on top via cross stitch technique. 

The work was born from a straightforward observational landscape of the LA river, but evolved to incorporate the special plant I had learned about from the Book titled Tending the Wild by Kat Anderson. This plant known as the Los Angeles Sunflower, was believed to have been extinct but specimen have been found in Santa Clarita. It was endemic to Los Angles and grew along the wetlands of the LA river.