My friend Penny and I like to paint in a hidden garden, called Cross Estate. We'll stroll under the overhanging wisteria, our easels and canvases tucked under our arms, down a stone path to the tidy formal courtyard that is the crowning jewel of the estate.

We look around and know immediately what we want to paint. The flowers beckon as the sun lights their faces and ours. We set up our easels and try to capture a flower's beauty before the fickle sun shifts to another blossom.

This clematis plant is blooming in the perfect place. It's stems wind around a stone pillar, and its white elegance embraces the open air. Today feels special, for the sun refuses to move its beam from my clematis. This flower has chosen me

Happy music and art, Cinder LeDell