I am often asked what inspires my flower artwork so I thought it would be good to share where my love with the hollyhock all began. I am not sure how many times the hollyhock is represented in my pieces of Eaton Art, but it is definitely my favorite flower to paint. A long time ago, when we first lived in Midway, two sisters, the Huber sisters, came to our home and gave Ellie and I a huge sack of hollyhock seeds. We planted themon the edge of our garden and they grew to be some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. I painted them over and over in different situations. Actually, they looked so good that Bonneville Productions, a film company, called us and asked if they could film a small production with the hollyhocks. They brought their big trucks and equipment up from Salt Lake and filmed them over a two-day event - filled with lighting, cameras, and even a small train they set up around the garden.

When Ellie saw how much I loved painting the hollyhocks, she was somewhat worried I'd become a "flower artwork painter". She loved them as much as I did, but didn't want all my work to have the hollyhocks. While I didn't go that far, I did study the way the sun would shine off the flowers and how they would show off the sunlight. I find myself even now being fascinated with the shapes and colors of hollyhocks.

This fascination or appreciation of the hollyhocks or any other subject matter is an important necessity for good painting results. A strong mental image, which comes from intense appreciation, is mandatory. I consider myself to be more of an appreciator than a creator. I would like Eaton Art to say, €Look what Eaton saw and how he felt€ instead of, €Look what Eaton can do.€

Artwork that contains flowers brings a sense of beauty into the home. Hollyhocks are enjoyed all through Midway, and they are also a traditional flower used by the pioneers; because of this, I often used hollyhocks in my historical pioneer series. This series of Eaton Art depicts some of the first settlers of the west and seemed to be in demand by some of my collectors, and one painting led to another. I struggled a bit with the series at times, scraping off and redoing certain paint passages, maybe because I wanted perfection in capturing the spirit of the moment in history. Sometimes when an artist works too hard on a piece, it becomes hard work to look at, but I don't think that is the case with this series€¦at least I hope not.