When I reflect on where my art has taken me the past few months, I realize that almost all of it has had something to do with plants and gardens. The fascinating and varied foliage of plants is an endless source of inspiration for my painting, while the garden provides an ideal setting for displaying sculpture. These two activities have kept me very busy this summer!
May 2017
Near the end of May we took a trip to Portland, Oregon to visit our son. It was a great time to be there because pretty much everything was in bloom. All over the city, public spaces and private homes were gorgeously landscaped and bursting with an amazing profusion of flowers, shrubs and trees. Naturally I spent a lot of time snapping photos with my iPhone and running down the battery! Some of my favorite places to photograph beautiful plants were the Lan Su Chinese Garden, the Portland Japanese Garden, The Oregon Zoo and the Pittock Mansion. Our daughter joined us from Philadelphia for part of the week, so in addition to exploring Portland, the four of us spent two days at the Oregon coast roaming the beaches, taking in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, and eating lots of fish and chips. There is nothing like time at the ocean for recharging an artist’s soul.
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- Portland Japanese Garden
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- Oregon Coast
June 2017
Back home in Richmond, Indiana after our Portland trip, I worked furiously to finish framing artwork and participate in a group show with my local art group, the Whitewater Artists Guild. Twelve of us exhibited together at the Room 912 Gallery which is a downtown arts outreach facility for Indiana University East. I exhibited seven of my botanical paintings and was thrilled to sell three of them!
A friend invited me to participate in the annual Secret Garden Tour this year by placing several of my stone carvings in his yard. That was the motivation I needed to finish up a few pieces that were already close to completion, and to create two new ambitious pieces – the Stone Flower and a garden bench, both carved in Indiana limestone. It was a pleasure to see my finished stone pieces displayed in this lovely environment and to interact with the hundreds of visitors who came through on the two-day tour.
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- Limestone Garden Bench
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- Stone Flower
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- Limestone sculptures in the “Silver Garden”
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- Morning Stretch (limestone)
So now I’m contemplating what else I might carve for the garden – new bench designs, some freestanding sculptures, or perhaps a fountain? If you have an idea for a commissioned stone piece for your garden, please contact me! To see more images of my work in a garden setting, you can visit my Garden Sculpture Gallery.
July-August 2017
After the garden show, I turned my attention back to painting. Since I was eager to continue growing my collection of botanical paintings, I ordered some new canvases and challenged myself to go larger, translating some of my close-up plant photos into 30” x 30” paintings. I have enjoyed working this size and have plans to go even bigger in the near future. Please visit my Botanical Paintings Gallery to view the growing collection. Do you have a wall space in your home or business that would be perfect for a large botanical painting? Contact me about commissioning a painting. We can plan the size, shape, subject matter and color scheme to be just right for your decorating needs.
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- “Silver Green Yucca”, oil on canvas, 30″ x 30″
