As botanical artists, we often look for inspiration in nature and elsewhere. Denise Walser-Kolar, an accomplished ASBA and NESBA member, will talk about finding inspiration from the work of Joris Hoefnagel, an artist who lived 500 years ago. Her journey began many years ago with the discovery of a small book, Nature Illustrated, illustrated with paintings by Hoefnagel. She returned to this book early in her botanical art career.

Taking inspiration from his work, she created a painting from items in her own collection of tiny natural treasures—plants, seashells, insects, etc. This painting became Hoefnagel-Inspired # 1. It was followed by several paintings and the collection grew to become her Hoefnagel-Inspired Series which now numbers 34 and continues on. Every subject in these paintings is very personal to Denise being either from her garden, found on a trip, or given to her by someone special. For more information on Denise’s inspiration and her journey go to the Getty Blog and to Denise's website