NOTE: There are approximately one zillion photos in this post, so if it’s taking longer than usual to load, now you know why.
Woodland Garden ©2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt
6 x 6 • acrylic on Gessobord
SOLD • private collection, Salem, Oregon
Work in progress photos:
1. Initial sketch in pencil.
2. blocking in areas of color:
3. a glaze of quinacrodone fuschia over the whole painting:
4. adding more color layers and details, but not too much detail, because I wanted to keep it blocky, like a stained glass window:
A couple of weeks ago I got together with my good friend and fellow photog, Sandra, to go to the gardens at Norton Art Gallery here in Shreveport and take pictures (literally hundreds!) and generally enjoy the perfect weather while the azaleas were still in bloom.
I realize that posting these photos may not be the wisest thing to do since they demonstrate how utterly inadequate is my artistic effort to depict the scene. And even so, the photos themselves give only a slight indication of the actual experience of being there, with people walking around, birds singing, children laughing in the distance, wind chimes, breeze blowing, leaves rustling, etc. Oh, what a glorious morning!
While we were there I saw two brides having their bridal photos done in the garden setting, and several moms trying to get small children to pose for pics prettily amongst the posies. It’s a popular spot for that kind of thing, especially this time of year. (Really the kids just wanted to splash their hands and sandaled feet in the babbling brooks and chase each other up and down the hillsides ... much more fun than posing prettily amongst the posies.)
There’s Sandra on the bridge in the right half of the picture, oblivious to the fact that I’m lurking in the azaleas above, snapping this shot.
There’s Sandra again, totally unaware that I am lurking on the wooded hillside above, taking this photo.
Sometime during the morning I started formulating a plan to make my back yard look like this. Hey, a person can dream, can’t she?
This is what my back yard looks like now:
I figure if we start right after lunch it should be shaping up in about 10-12 years. Or twenty. Or thirty.
Stop laughing. I’m totally serious.
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