==Flowers==

Pollen, oil on linen & wood, 22"x18" © 2002 (private collection)

Rose Rings, acrylic on linen, 30"x30" © 2001

Sunflowers, acrylic on canvas, 20"x40" © 2001 (private collection)

Pandora IV, acrylic on canvas, 22"x28" © 2002

Pandora III, acrylic on canvas, 22"x28" © 2001 (private collection)

Pandora, acrylic on canvas, 22"x28" © 2000 (private collection)

Pandora II, acrylic on canvas, 23"x28" © 2000

The Trouble with Flowers, acrylic on hardboard, 8"x10" © 2000 (private collection)

Sun Flower II, acrylic on linen, 27"x32" © 1991 (private collection)

Sun Flower, acrylic on linen, 24"x30" © 1991 (private collection)

Sunflower 4, acrylic on canvas board, 18"x14" © 1998 (private collection)

Lotus Pool, acylic and oil on canvas, 18"x30" © 1991 (private collection)

Fire Flowers, acrylic on linen, 27"x27" © 1991 (private collection)

Planting Lotuses in Fire, oil on linen, 20"x30" © 1993 Planting Lotuses in Fire, was inspired by the inscription from the Bhagavad Gita on Sylvia Plath's (vanished) tombstone: "Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted."

Inside the Rose Where for this Inside is there an Outside? Upon what wound does one lay such a dressing? What heavens are reflected there in the inland lake of these open roses, these heedless ones, look: How loose they lie, tempting fate, as if no trembling hand could ever spill them. They can scarcely contain themselves; many let themselves be filled to the brim and over flow with inner peace into days that always fuller and fuller close, until the whole summer becomes a room, a room in a dream. --Rainer Maria Rilke [Rika Lesser]

Rilke's Rose, acrylic on canvas, 20"x20" © 1991