With many years of experience in healthcare, Rena Hottinger has consistently balanced her ca-reer with a passion for the arts. She attended a certificate program in Floral Design @ the NY Botanical Gardens. Nowadays, if she is not creating floral bouquets with real flowers, she is painting or photographing them. As a result, she is being recognized for her strong flower paintings. Rena has worked as a creative designer as well as volunteering for ArtWorks, a foun-dation in NJ created to bring art expression to chronically ill children. Rena born and raised in Brooklyn and Staten Island, NY now lives in the Poconos. She utilizes multiple media for free-style self-expression including acrylic, watercolour, oil, soft pastel, charcoal, ink, collage, clay, photography, and floral design. Appreciating Buddhist philosophy, she explains that “creating art” is a virtue of wholesomeness, an exploration of truth, and contributes to a meaningful life that benefits all. Rena contends that everything happens in the moment—including creating & appreciating art. Beginning in 2018, Rena chose to spend time learning from and reproducing paintings by the “Old Masters” including van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, Degas, Cezanne, Chagall, Picasso & more. A large number of her exhibited works have been created in this way with current inspiration from exploring the works of Georgia O’Keefe and Frida Kahlo. Drawn to the world of the “abstract” Rena freely enjoys creating in this style particularly on larger canvas. She also enjoys making collages—creating art in mixed media usually expressing some unique message. An award-winning painter & photographer, her work is usually on exhibit somewhere in Pike County PA, Wayne County PA, Monroe County PA, and in both Delaware and Hudson Valleys. In the future, Rena dreams of exhibiting her work on the larger international stage.