My original idea was to do a simple painting of a girl with a few flowers. But as I began to put the pieces together, a story revealed itself to me more and more. Soon I was seeing a brother helping the girl, pouring flowers from his basket, and the girl choosing the best ones, perhaps for a bouquet for their mother. A whole little world developed from a simple idea.

But the element that ties it all together is the sense of light that it conveys. My goal was to paint this scene, paying more attention to the light on my subjects that to the subjects them selves. I find that doing this creates a classical interpretation of subject matter that might otherwise be viewed as too sweet. - MW