Story behind the art of Jessica Daigle

29th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Illustrators

Last Dance

Rudbeckia hirta

This story isn't a grand botanical adventure, but just a gardener's tale. I discovered the subjects of this painting in a forgotten wheelbarrow while I was chasing after children, dogs, and an ever-growing list of garden chores. 

I have always loved black-eyed Susans, Rudbeckia hirta, for their cheerful golden flowers and ability to brighten the garden well into late summer. One day, I deadheaded several spent flowers, and tossed them into a wheelbarrow, with plans to empty it later. But I completely forgot about them. Several days later, I stepped outside and noticed the dried flower heads still resting together in the wheelbarrow. What stopped me was the unexpected grace of their arrangement. The flowers had dried naturally, their petals curling and twisting around one another as though caught in a final dance. The brilliant yellows of summer had softened into ochres, golds and warm browns. Their seed heads stood like small sculptures, rich with texture and character. In the garden, we are often taught to celebrate flowers in their prime and remove them once their display has faded. Yet standing over the wheelbarrow, I was struck by the beauty of this stage of a plant’s life, long after its peak bloom.

One of the challenges in painting this piece was preserving the delicacy and movement of the dried petals while honoring the structural complexity of the seed heads. I was drawn to the subtle color transitions that emerge as the flowers age, colors that are often missed when we think of black-eyed Susans simply as yellow flowers. To capture these shifts, I built the watercolor through numerous overlapping layers of small, dry-brush marks, almost like dots. This gradual approach allowed me to develop a broad range of colors while preserving the dried texture and character of the flowers.

Through this work, I hope viewers pause to appreciate a state of beauty that is often overlooked. And the flowers still serve a purpose, even when they no longer attract pollinators. Rudbeckia seed heads provide food for birds through the winter, extending their contribution to the garden long after flowering has ended. While I deadhead many of my rudbeckias during the growing season, I often leave some standing or place spent seed heads along the edge of the woods where birds can easily find them. Even in decline, they continue to support the life around them.

So what first appeared to be garden debris revealed itself as a small moment of transformation, a reminder that the end of a flower’s season can be every bit as compelling as its beginning.

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Read more about this artist's work: 27th Annual