"How Indulgent! Flowers have been a mainstay of my subject choices since I began painting twenty-some years ago. To immerse myself in this topic for the past year has been a wonderful experience but a very challenging one. It only takes a quick look at a perfect specimen from the garden to see that committing its image to paper cannot improve what is naturally there. My solution is to present the images in ways the flower cannot do alone through the use of scale, by isolating parts of the image to form abstract patterns, and by using back light to emphasize transparency.

"With my attention so closely tied to floral images and with this year's comfortable, prolonged spring, much of my time has been spent in my perennial beds planting flowers by day and painting flowers by night. As I said...how indulgent!

"All of the images in this show have a personal connection to me as the artist. They were grown in my home or purchased for a special occasion. The tropical plants were images collected from a trip to Bermuda. The magnolia paintings are from the first blossoms of a magnolia tree my husband and I planted to mark our thirty-fifth anniversary. The freesias and tulips were in our home for our oldest son's wedding. The vase of parrot tulips was in my art studio. The other paintings are of flowers that are familiar sights in the solarium of our home. Except for the onions....I seem to collect sprouting onions at the grocery store! (They are just an early stage of flowers!) As with most art, when the painting is presented, the viewer can bring his own life experiences to form his personal connection.

"Watercolor is a wonderful medium for painting flowers as it can beautifully depict the illusion of transparency against opaque areas. My goal is to subjugate the medium to the image so that it becomes a tool and not a thing in itself."

Nancy Meadows Taylor grew up on a farm in Garner, North Carolina, which at that time was a distant outpost of Raleigh.  In between chores, Nancy spent her free time either drawing or using her hands making things.

Taylor's career began with a degree in Interior Design from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and later with employment as a graphic designer.

When she and her husband began a family, her focus was on taking care of their three children, but it was at that time Taylor also seriously developed her skills as a painter.

The subjects of her work have always been based on the observation of things in her environment. In her home she grows various plants and flowers in a solarium which continues to provide images for a lot of her work.

Her other primary area of continuing interest is working with the abstracted patterns reflected in water, often on the lake behind the Taylors’ house and in the coastal regions of the state. In the past few years her travels abroad, most recently trips to Spain and Portugal, have provided inspiration for much of Taylor's latest work.

An active interest in music supports Taylor's painting process. She sings in a community chorus which performs obscure masses and requiems. She believes that being part of this beautiful music enhances her sensitivity when she paints.

Throughout her career, she's enjoyed the challenge of competition. She holds signature memberships in the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, the Rocky Mountain Watermedia Society and the Watercolor Society of North Carolina.