KANDYAN DANCER ORCHIDS © 2021

Naples Botanical Garden

Photographic Story I spent the morning exploring Naples Botanical Garden and when I came across this orchid I couldn’t help but smile…mostly because they seemed to be smiling at me! I have never seen a plant that actually looked happy, so I couldn’t resist taking their photo and hand-painting it for everyone to enjoy their smile. The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Photographed with a Sony digital camera and instead of oil painting with Q-tips and cotton balls, Niki was able to paint using Photoshop. Changing from the old-fashioned way of doing her art, to the new ‘fashion’ of using technology was challenging, but she’s enjoying getting back to her own personal expression. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.