Employing the age-old decorative art of tole painting, Bordeaux-based Carmen Almon crafts the most breathtaking, and breathtakingly real, blooms. Flora stretch toward the sun, leaves bend gently from the weight of a beetle or butterfly… and she does all this with mere sheet metal and oil paints in her arsenal. Here, we talk to the artist about her work and that magical touch.

The art bug bit when…
As a child, we traveled often and to places with foreign languages that I did not understand, so I spent a lot of time observing. I think all that looking made me an artist.

My very first art love…
Drawing.

My first brush with tôle painting…
I saw Deeda Blair’s flowers by Mrs. [Mary] Munnecke about 30 years ago and thought they were the most beautiful things I ever saw. But it wasn’t until 25 years later that I had the time and ability to make any for myself. My husband Thierry [Job], a sculptor, taught me how to solder and make them strong.

Flowers intrigue me because…
They are strange things, really. All of these elaborate ways to make themselves attractive for insects and people.

When I start a new sculpture, I always begin by…
It depends on the plant. I have to think of a step-by-step procedure so that it does not fall apart as I solder. The last phase sometimes takes the longest: getting the painting right, and getting just the right insect to land in just the right place.

The artists who have most influenced me…
The 17th- and 18th-century botanical artists. Johann Walther, Alexander Marshal, Basilius Besler and Mark Catesby are some of my favorites.

My favorite garden in the world…
There are so many! But I suppose the one that no longer exists on the side of a mountain on the outskirts of Barcelona. They were the grounds of a school I went to as a child. We had a two-hour lunch break and still I was inevitably late for class.

Favorite flower to receive…
All the ones that the people I love give me!

One thing I can’t live without as an artist…
Curiosity.