The subject matter represents a master of the demanding technique, in which pictures are literally created backward, with fine surface details laid down first and then layered over with background colors behind a gleaming glass surface. James tended to use flat, almost decorative areas of color on her glass canvas to represent flowers, landscapes and religious images.The subject is a luminous pink rose in full bloom set into curved white vase against a blue background.The light, the air, the landscape, the Hispanic culture, and her connection to the pioneer modernists, fueled a distinctly personal Rebecca James style that was both sophisticated and naive, and infused with a spirit of New Mexico.