Mother's day present / grave ornament

It's finished! My first mother's day present since my mom passed almost a year ago.

Ever since we put her urn into the ground, I was looking for a nice grave ornament that felt just right. For her. For me. And although I came across some really nice pieces, it never felt suitable.
Along the way the idea came to mind that I could make something myself, as I did for almost every mother's day, and so I did once more.

My previous blog posts were about practicing wit acrylic paint on slate and painting all sorts of flowers my mom used to like so much.
Now it was time for the real stuff.

I bought a nice square piece of slate, in fact it's a coaster but it served my purpose just fine.
Once I decided which flowers to paint and how to arrange them on the slate, I set out some guidelines with a white pastel pencil.

Then it was time for a layer of primer. I used a white gesso.

When the gesso was all dry, I could start painting.

This was the result:

In the left upper corner you see lilacs, right next to it a yellow and pink rose and in the right upper corner an orange gerbera.
In the left lower corner lily of the valley, poppies, violets and marigolds. The right side is filled with a bunch of lavender.
The text in the Middle says forever in our heart.

After three layers of varnish, this is the end result:

I'm happy with it and so is my dad.
This weekend we'll put it next to her urn block on the cemetery.

Happy mother's day, mom. I love you.