The Florida Panther has been on my “things to paint” list for more than two years.

Meet baby Peppercorn 

aka
​Orange Blossom Morning 

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Some paintings seem to know where they're going from the very beginning. This wasn't one of them.

When I started Orange Blossom Morning, I thought I was simply painting a rescued Florida panther cub. Peppercorn, abandoned at just eight weeks old, immediately captured my heart.

As the painting developed, it became something more.

I found myself adding a few of Florida's official state symbols: delicate orange blossoms, a zebra longwing butterfly, and a mockingbird.
Together they celebrate not only one remarkable young panther, but the wild beauty that makes Florida unlike anywhere else.

Peppercorn will never be released into the wild because she was rescued too young to learn the survival skills her mother would have taught her. Even so, she has become an ambassador for her species, helping people appreciate and protect the endangered Florida panther.
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I hope this painting reminds you that some of Florida's greatest treasures aren't found on the beaches. Sometimes they're hidden quietly among the orange blossoms, waiting to be discovered.

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