The beautiful photo of the two little birds encased in a frame custom-made by the artist! Such talent!

My daughter loved this little kitty. I can’t remember what type of flower or grass the body is made from, but I remember it has rose petal leaves and collar.

When I saw this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, I first thought of the usual “inspirational” photos, sunrises, sunsets, beautiful nature photos. When I thought a bit more, I remembered something an incredibly talented artist said to my daughter and me as we were purchasing two of her magnificent creations at the recent Spearfish Art in the Park craft festival.  Her space at the festival was filled with incredible pictures created with dried plants, leaves and flowers that she had, with incredibly talented hands, made into pictures of animals, simple floral bookmarks and incredibly detailed landscapes. As we were purchasing our items, my daughter asked her how long it took her to make one of the photos.  The artist explained that it is a long process of selecting flowers, waiting for them to dry, creating the design and the frame and finally completing it.   She said if she actually kept track of the hours she spent, she would have to charge more than most would be willing to pay.  She explained to us that in many jobs, the workers are constantly watching the clock and wondering why the hours go by so slowly, while in her job she is so involved into creating and perfecting the designs that hours pass by very quickly. I commented to her that her work is wonderful and that in creating these masterpieces, she shares a little piece of herself with every person who purchases them.    If you are lucky enough to see Michelle Barnhart as a vendor at a craft festival, plan to spend a bit of time at her booth admiring the beautiful work she does!!