Art In The Garden Gallery
June 6, 2022The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.
– Claude Monet
May might not have gotten off to the warmest start but it’s great to see so many of you were still inspired by the garden, sharing your art and stories in our gallery! We’ve had some incredible submissions and here are some of the highlights.
Georgia Youngs
Vancouver Artist creating MagicRealism through paint
I absolutely love painting what’s in my own backyard. It starts with capturing great photos of my garden, developing those, and then getting inspired to paint them. Lately, I’m finding myself so inspired just walking around the neighbourhood, taking photos of all the beautiful homes and nature in my community, that I can hardly wait to get started painting on a blank canvas!
Flowers are just so beautiful and fun to paint – from drawing them and seeing the images start to emerge, to the thrill of deciding on colours, and then mixing them and matching them to the real thing. It’s an exciting and beautiful process for me.
Nicole Norris
Queer artist, creating, on unceded territory of the autonomous Sinixt
I’ve loved gardens for as long as I can remember and I think they call to me so much because of their roots. They tunnel down and curl around rocks beneath the earth while they talk to each other – the most unusual things find a way to thrive.
When I paint gardens, it requires a different technique than other landscapes. As I move my hand and my brush, flowers and trees take on their own kind of energy on my canvas.
Life doesn’t care about adversity or change, it just grows.
Min Xu
Life is a journey
The rhododendrons in the front yard have caught my eye since a few days ago. Finally the weather becomes sunny these days, so I was able to spend the afternoon painting those flowers. However, the sunlight changed very quickly. I painted with open acrylic on paper for 2 hours in the garden and then finished at my home studio. It was a great experience to paint a floral scene nearby. Our nature truly has so much to offer in our daily life.
Joyce Findlay
LOVE…my family, my friends, my life and my art!!!
We all think of Ukraine when we see a sunflower. When I painted this one, the flower with its head hanging spoke to me of sorrow and the one with its head up, spoke of hope.
Miriam James
Let me brew joy and paint your special place or memory
I love watching flowers unfold from small green buds to beautiful, vibrant, and colourful and unique shapes. They are masterpieces in and of themselves. They make me feel happy and content. As each flower is different, they coexist with others and one’s beauty and importance isn’t diminished by the other. I think they make us appreciate our differences. They teach us how to be still and just let things be.
These irises also reminded me that most times, the things that look fragile are stronger and sturdier than one would think. Their stalks and their petals looked so thin and fragile from afar but when held, they are way sturdier than I thought. They were able to withstand a windstorm and a week of rain and still looked beautiful in the aftermath.
Pamela Hamilton
A watercolour and mixed media artist who loves to create whimsical and fantastical images
I’m truly inspired by spring flowers and all of the beautiful colors, textures, patterns and life that florals bring. I am postpartum and focusing on my mental health to combat postpartum anxiety and depression. Mindfulness has been a big part of my journey and love to go for walks and truly take time to stop and smell the flowers. I love to take photos of flowers and take time to really look at the details on the petals. I’m taking Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction strategies and applying it to my art. I don’t have too much time to paint these days with a new baby, but I’m trying to find a little time to keep painting as it lifts my spirit to be creative.
Congratulations to this month’s featured artists!
To coincide with the Opus Plein Air Painting Challenge, June’s gallery is all about creating in the great outdoors. If you’re making art in the open air, be sure to submit your work and stories using the hashtag #OpusPleinAirChallenge on Instagram for the chance to win a $50 gift certificate.
NEW GALLERY!
Conversations With Nature – Opus Plein Air Challenge
Venture into the great outdoors and experience the freedom of painting en Plein Air.
Whether we’re heading outside to paint plein air or exploring the nature of our mind, this spring we embark on Creative Journeys – vibrant voyages of interconnection, with our creative selves leading the way.
Art by: Marney-Rose Edge