“Buddleja and Pears” was possible as a result of his friendship with a woman in Rutherford, a beautiful town just a few miles up Rt. 29. Eric tells us that his friend would give him the keys to her estate and allow him to use any flowers or fruit available on the property to compose his paintings. The featured flower, Buddleja, a California garden favorite is also known as “butterfly bush,” which is often confused with Lilacs. Eric enjoys choosing unusual floral material for his paintings and then representing them as accurately as possible. Here you can see how he has captured the light coming through the minute red throats of these flowers. Eric decided to thrust this subject matter forward by painting the background completely out of focus.