Did you gain skill with familiar materials?
Yes I did. Watercolour has always been one of my favorite media to work with. It’s my go to whenever I want to paint on my own, because I find painting with it so therapeutic. However, in this piece, I wanted to extend my knowledge and experience by delving specifically into foliage and grasses. I did a sort of first rough draft to start experimenting with how I wanted the grasses to look. Then I did a second rough draft in which I painted a full meadow of grasses, closer to what I wanted to do in my final draft. I played with the lay of the land and how that was going to affect the shape of the grasses. In the end I was happy with my technique. However, I wanted to add some contrast to all the green so I implemented a Black-eyed Susan in the foreground with a big Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, which I have always found to be one of the most majestic butterflies in Canada.

However, because watercolour is a transparent medium, one cannot paint light colours over dark and expect to get a vibrant result. So, I searched for techniques that would allow my Swallowtail, in its pale yellow glory, to show off its full beauty while still being surrounded by relatively dark foliage. This is when I stumbled across masking fluid. This is nothing more than a liquid latex that one can apply to an area in order to preserve the white of the page. Once you are done with the darker colours surrounding the latex, you can simply peel it off to reveal the untainted white of the page. I used this technique to paint my Swallowtail as well as my Black-eyed Susan. 
 

What is this artwork intended to say?
This piece is meant to be a welcome to spring. One of my favorite things about Canada is the incredible contrast between seasons. However, this particular winter has left me, and I’m sure many others, tired and very ready  for the warm relief of spring. This piece is meant to display the wonderful growth, life, and light that I know to be spring. On the other hand, I also included a tree snag in the piece which may be seen as against the general message that this piece is intended to say. However I would argue that in nature, no matter the season, you will find these types of snags all over the place and in my mind, they add some marvelous detail and contrast, which simply adds to the piece.