Gifts from God:

About the Book

Gifts from God: An Alphabet of Florals and Reflections is a collection of Margaret Kohel Evans’ watercolor florals and her spontaneous reflections of gifts. The book cover is graced with the watercolor: Coreopsis and Purple Salvia.

About the Author

Margaret Kohel Evans was born into a world of flowers on her childhood farm in Wisconsin. She remembers the early spring scent of apple and plum blossoms, as well as hunting violets and trilliums in the woods. Her mother cherished flowers and kept many beds of perennials, as well as a rich palette of annuals: bold red, pristine white, and soft pink peonies; beds of rambling roses that trailed on forever; irises; and larkspur; to name just a few. A beautiful sight and wonderful scent rewarded anyone who was outside or had the windows open during spring, summer, or autumn.

As an adult living and working in the South American tropics for eight years, Margaret's new friends found her trekking to the mountains to collect orchids, and enjoying the streets and yards lined with flowering trees, hibiscus, oleander, poinsettias, and bougainvillea. After moving to the Texas Hill Country, Margaret became fascinated with the Texas wildflowers: especially bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, Indian blankets, and Coreopsis.

Margaret devoted forty-five years to working in private and public education as a teacher, diagnostician, supervisor, and educational consultant. It was not until she was fully retired that she persevered to paint. She moved into a new home and was determined to have flower paintings in one of the powder rooms instead of wallpaper. Today, the walls are covered with her framed watercolors of favorite flowers, featuring both conservative hues and unexpected juicy colors like tangerine and fuchsia.