Ingrid Dohm is an award-winning artist based in Rockford, Illinois. Well known for her signature floral still life, her body of work spans an impressive array of subjects: landscapes, street scenes, and portraits, to name a few. The tie that binds this diverse body of work together is the consistent beauty, the lush and vibrant use of color, and the controlled technique that result in the unique elegance of her original artwork. The raison d’etre for my floral and landscape paintings can be traced directly to the influences that surrounded my early childhood. Born and raised in a small town in Austria near forests, glens and mountains, I was constantly seeking out the many varied kinds of floral beauty which is ever present in this land. During the summer months, in a high mountain lake enclosure, my siblings and I would make daylong forays into the forested areas solely to see what kinds of flowers we could encounter. A difficult find, but a most sought after one, was the edelweiss. This was so because one had to climb up the side of a mountain to see them growing as an outcropping in the rocks. This would become the trophy of the day! Another favored sight was the Christrose, commonly called the Schneerose or snow rose, because it could be seen popping up out of the snow cover on the ground. In school I was always fascinated with any instrument be it pen, pencil or crayon, that could make anything from a strait line to a complicated image. I really never understood at the time why I had this strong attraction for art supplies, never could make the connection between it and my love of nature. It wasn’t until I came to the United States and married that the association was made. A casual remark by my husband, that I had a natural talent and propensity to draw and paint, made me realize that I ought to get going. A starter paint kit was purchased and that’s the beginning of the story.