Kirkland artist Shirley Rudolf received a special recognition award in the 13th Annual Summer Juried Online International Art Exhibition, hosted by Upstream People Gallery.

This international exhibition received approximately 120 art entries from around the world and 24 artists were selected by the juror Laurence Bradshaw, professor of art at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

“Shirley … shows a kind of Georgia O’Keefe vision and format of close-ups of flowers,” Bradshaw said. “Her ‘Peony’ in its asymmetry is quite delicately portrayed.”

Rudolf said she bought the peony when she was very young.

“Every year I kept waiting for its blooms in early spring and there were none,” she said. “I continually cared for it as it was pretty expensive at the time I bought it, and it was planted in the best place to grow, I couldn’t bear to dig it up.”

She finally saw the peony bloom after a few years and after that, it flourished with blooms.

“I really miss that plant, but when we relocated to another state I couldn’t bring myself to move it with us since it was in a perfect spot,” Rudolf said.

The exhibition can be found at www.upstreampeoplegallery.com in the archives section of the website.