East Texas native James Surls is among the most acclaimed Texas artists of the late twentieth century, but he has found great success outside the state, as well. Surls' sculptures are largely inspired by nature but also reveal metaphorical and mythological content. In a 2009 catalog for The Grace Museum in Abilene, Texas, Patterson Sims wrote that Surls' works are, "studies of myths, science, and human behavior."

After graduating from Sam Houston State University and The Cranbrook Academy of Art, he taught at Southern Methodist University and later at the University of Houston and the Lawndale Art Center, Houston. Surls' work is held in many museum collections, and he has had numerous solo exhibitions, including the Dallas Museum of Art in 1984 and The Meadows Art Museum, Dallas, in 2003.

On the Water with Six Flowers, 2005 is a classic example of one of Surls' most popular subjects. The flower-shaped windmills and curved branches invoke a field of flowers but rise out of central pistil - creating a single entity, one large flower. Using abstract forms that invoke the scrubby trees, curving longhorns, hot breezes, and abundant wildflowers, James Surls utilizes this whimsical design to convey a holistic and abstract interpretation of the Texas landscape.