Painting Gardens Mid-Winter for Nature Lovers

“Meadow with Wildflowers”, 11 x 14″, acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas, Karen Gillis Taylor. Click all for larger views.

2015 is bringing snow and more snow to North America this year. Here in Colorado we are finally getting our share, on the front range. Poor Boston is tired of the deluge, hopefully digging out by now.

January and February are the months when we welcome images of warmer weather and beautiful growing things. One of my dreams is to own a small heated greenhouse where I might grow flowers, herbs and veggies all year-long. Is there such a thing as shared neighborhood greenhouses these days? I have space in our backyard! Oh, wait, then would have time to paint? Let’s not think about that time part, it’s messing up my DREAM.

These are 2 paintings recently finished that were puzzling me for a while. When I came back to them after ignoring them long enough, the solutions presented themselves, and Hooray! Finished and done. Be kind to certain of your UFOs. (Unfinished Objects.) They might come back and be worth your efforts.

 

“White Flower in the Garden”, 11 x 14″, acrylic on paper, Karen Gillis Taylor

The “Meadow with Wildflowers” painting came from imagination and lots of experimenting with drips and brush marks, little planning. Good recipe for interesting effects and textures, yet no planning also invites confusion now and then. I hit a roadblock and set it aside for a time.

This second painting, “White Flower in the Garden” began with an inspiration from one of my earlier paintings of the Vail Alpine Gardens. I loved the colors and values but the shapes were not working. The new fix was actually a pretty short and sweet one. Nice.

Holy cow! The snow is now coming down outside now, so persistently and quickly… that explains the expression, “the driven snow.” Shall I now be a driven painter to find summer in paint? I almost want to take my larger blank canvas rather than the smaller one and begin to paint that wonderful image I photographed at the Denver Botanical Gardens in summer, complete with a pond, and lovely reflections boosting the effects of beauty. More snow, bigger colorful painting of nature in the growing season?

Invincible Summer
“In the midst of Winter I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” Albert Camus

I have always liked this quote. I even named one of my experimental paintings after it. See it here:

“Invincible Summer”, acrylic on board, framed. 9 x 12″. Karen Gillis Taylor, 2014

 

Do you have art on your walls that takes you to another place when the elements outdoors are not so enjoyable? Do you paint things that take you to a more joyous or inviting place?

Final question, who knows about personal greenhouses and sharing those spaces with others in the neighborhood?

Thanks for reading, and for your invited comments!

-Karen

P.S.

Don’t forget to visit my Etsy shop site to see lots more of my paintings. And more are on my website too. Cheers!