Creating a Garden of Light

I remember when I saw a Monet painting for the first time. It was years ago at MoMA where I first saw a collection of his Water Lilies. They were not only HUGE, but they seemed to carry a sort of musical vibration. His impressionistic paintings of light and reflection filled the room with a humming resonance.

Years later, I was reading more about his life and realized just how much gardening and painting were interwoven in his world. Here's an article about his garden in Giverny if you'd like to read more.  His garden was just as much a work of art as his famous paintings.

 In my own gardening and painting adventures, I continue to gather inspiration from places filled with light, movement and sound. Where I live in Minnesota, I try to incorporate native plant species within other flowering favorites. Here's a photo of a local park filled with native pollinator friendly plants.

Here's a photograph of the historic Schell Brewery Garden in New Ulm, Minnesota. It's been a family business for over 160 years. We visited recently, and I learned that the original owners were from the Black Forest region in Germany. When they arrived here, they found this beautiful piece of land near a freshwater stream. They used the water for their brewery and created a lovely garden. They brought in some pine trees from northern Minnesota to create a place that was familiar to their Black Forest home. Some of the peonies in the garden are over 100 years old! Another fun fact, during the Prohibition, they made root beer and candy to keep the business running. This family owned business has been operating through ups and downs in the economy and changes within the industry and have had to adapt and change throughout the times. It's an inspiring and beautiful place to visit. Their garden tells a story just as much as their brewery.

 In my own garden, I'm slowly adding plants, birch and aspen trees, and some native pollinator plants and non natives like these lovely strawberry milkshake hydrangeas. When I photograph my flowers for future paintings, I like to work in the early morning or evening. The light glows through the petals and provides beautiful backlit warmth.

 Here's a painting I made inspired by this photograph I took. I was inspired by the range in color and shadow within these hydrangea clusters. As the light hits the flowers, I added warm coral and yellow pink colors, and the flowers in the shadows reflected the cool blue light from the sky above and muted pinks below. I thought a butterfly would top it off nicely. I like to lean into impressionism when I paint rather than realism. I like making quick brush strokes, layers of paint and color. I like to work quickly while I paint, and I suppose I am a bit impatient as well. When I have a vision in my head, I like to quickly get it out, getting slabs of paint on the brush, mixing as I go and slathering it on in

 Here's one more photo of my garden filled with cosmos and the resulting painting inspired by them. 

I'm slowly adding more paintings to my collection of summer florals. I've recently started using water mixable oil paints, which have been such a joy! I haven't used oils since my college days. I was hesitant to keep paint thinner and jars of that around my home with young kids. That was until I discovered these water mixable oils, which means clean up is simply soap and water- no solvents necessary. They are a dream to paint with. 

Here is a recent painting of white peonies made with these buttery smooth oil paints. I haven't given in a title yet, but I'm loving the dancing light of this piece. Here's a link to my online store of available paintings and hand embellished prints.