Category Archives: Gardens

“A Blue As Of The Sea”

In spite of late snows, relentless rain, and cool temps, my garden in June is a reward to be depended upon like a fairy tale’s happy ending. Spring has seemed so late to arrive the last couple of years, and yet checking past entries in my garden journal proves that everything seems to bloom within several days of the same date each year. Nature appears to have a schedule that won’t be denied.

Our back garden

The colors of azaleas, rhododendrons, phlox, and poppies can make one a bit giddy after so many months of deep greens, grays, and brown. But it won’t surprise anyone who knows me that my favorite landmarks for breaking the color fast of Mud Season are the lilacs, lupines, and irises. What could be better than to see a landscape filled with all shades of purple?

Each year we scatter more lupine seeds in our wildflower field below the house. They are at their gorgeous peak right now.

Wild iris are also spreading, adding to my delight.

For sketching purposes, one couldn’t ask for more than an iris provides: each bloom presents a rainbow of colors, fantastical shapes, varied textures, and intriguing patterns. And how great it is to be able to look to the garden rather than just my kitchen counters for a suitable subject.

In the 1980s I visited Van Gogh’s striking “Irises” many times at the Joan Whitney Payson Gallery of Art in Westbrook, Maine. Ownership is too strong a word, but I think many Mainers would say they also felt a particular sense of personal attachment to the piece, considering its easy accessibility in such an intimate setting. It was heartbreaking to learn it was going to be lost to the collection in 1987 for financial reasons. It’s now part of the J. Paul Getty Museum collection in Los Angeles – which seems so very far away.

Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1889, 29 1/4 x 37 1/8 in., Oil on canvas Collection of J. Paul Getty Museum

On a happier note, I always loved William Carlos Williams’ poem “Iris”, from his Pictures from Brueghel collection. He caught the essence of the bloom’s exuberance so well.

Iris

A burst of iris so that
come down for
breakfast

We searched through the
rooms for
that

sweetest odor and at
first could not
find its

source then a blue as
of the sea
struck

startling us from among
those trumpeting
petals

Garden Iris

Pyrotechnic Analogies

With all the rain we’ve had this summer, my garden is especially lush.
And while, as I’ve written before, I love the quiet and visual restraint of a winter landscape, these months of vibrant color definitely serve to recharge my batteries to carry me through the more subdued seasons ahead. In February I’ll look back at pictures taken around my yard from June through October and they’ll seem almost impossibly luxuriant.

If given a choice, I am overwhelmingly partial to purple, particularly the shade that hovers over the line between blue and violet. I have a delphinium, planted several years ago, that fully came into its own this summer. I can’t get enough of the depth and layers of color within its blooms, even as it slowly fades. It is placed so that I can see it up close just as easily from inside the house as when outside. I’ve been watching it attentively and think its dramatic change from sprigs of branched buds to full-on sprays of exuberant blossoms has been equivalent to a fireworks display in slow motion.

I suspect being steeped in this beautiful blue had a subconscious influence on choice of dye color in my current textile piece. But also, the section I’ve been working on/stitching this week certainly seems to echo this idea of slow motion reward: a measured start building into a crescendo of stitched pattern.

Hopefully I can carry the spirit of that idea forward with the next steps I have planned.

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Speaking of fireworks, I’ve had them on my mind since finishing The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale. It’s a fictional tale of 18th century London that is most interesting for its view into the workshop of a fireworks maker, paired with the harsh realities of the daily workings of life in that time and place. It’s the author’s debut and a quick, entertaining read if you’re looking to add one last title to your summer reading list.

And finally, I love the wisdom of this poster by Libby VanderPloeg. It appeared this week on Sara Barnes’ illustration blog, Brown Paper Bag. It should be my daily mantra. What are you working to get good at?

Libby VanderPloeg

Artists = Gardeners = Artists

This past week my garden has burst with color. After months of living within a subdued landscape that quietly displayed spare beauty in the structure of trees, accented with the muted tones of last year’s dropped foliage, it’s pure joy to become re-immersed in full-on color!

GardenThree

Most artists I know are gardeners, and vice versa — although I wonder, do gardeners think of themselves as artists? They should; we share a love of color, form, texture and pattern, and of course a willingness to accept the challenge of arranging all those elements within a composition. This past post about Vermont artist David Stearns’ beautiful garden is a case in point.

GardenTwo

The overlap between the two disciplines is deeply ingrained for many of us. I have written in countless artist statements how formal Japanese gardens have been a huge inspiration to me, not just in their physical attributes, but in the way they direct one’s attention and how they make one feel while wandering along their paths. I continue to aspire toward that ability to say more with less in my own work.

GardenFour

But for now, I am just soaking up the pure lushness of this year’s new growth and am grateful to live where the seasons vary so strongly that as each one arrives we are ready and glad for the change.

GardenSix

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Two treasured books on my shelf, each an inspiration, are ZEN|FLOWERS: contemplation through creativity by Harumi Nishi and The Flower Recipe Book: 100 Magical, Sculptural, Seasonal Arrangements by Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo. They straddle the line between art and flora and offer a new way to think about both, together.

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Happily, this past weekend I heard back from Arthur Schaller, the collage artist I wrote about last week, with permission to post images of his work. Here’s a quick taste that will hopefully entice you to see the work in person if you can get to the Vermont Supreme Court gallery before the end of June.

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And finally, I am honored to have been asked to be in Across Roads Center for the Arts’ “Artist Spotlight” this month. The interview is available to be read here.

GardenSeven

Elizabeth Fram

Eye of the Needle

Category Archives: Gardens

“A Blue As Of The Sea”

Pyrotechnic Analogies

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Artists = Gardeners = Artists

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