GARDEN STUDIES. This series is a work in progress. A short time ago my wife and I bought a house. The former owner was an elderly woman who was a master gardner. Everyday I see plants in our small backyard that I've never seen before...not your typical garden plants, or even ones I see at large garden centers when my wife needs something from those places, or plants we see hiking in parks in rural areas of nothern Ohio. Seeing those plants grow and the insect life, and dealing with various garden tasks pruning, weeds, animals, etc., all become an interestiong visual mix, a microcosm, and opportunity for learning in a broader sence . “When you paint Spring, do not paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots, but just paint Spring. To paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots is to paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots - it is not yet painting Spring.” - Japanese Zen master Eihei Dogen (1200 -1253)
My wife and I now live in Cleveland Heights. The subject of a garden has been painted many
times by artists. Now that my wife and I own a house with a garden I want to investigate the
garden from all possible angles, not just one ideal frozen moment with, for example, flowers in
full bloom. What I mean about that is suggesting something more akin
to what I consider the full story of a garden. That to me means seeing a garden with one eye on
the outside world, in this case the garden, and one eye on the inner world that is suggested to
me. The full story to me includes things such as the physical part, the tools working, digging,
getting your hands dirty, coming across inhabitants of the underground life, encountering
garden codependent insects, and garden intruders seen or only hinted at with traces or clues,
unknown and unexpected plants appearing, flowers, weeds, vines, the nocturnal life, and most
importantly the unseen energy of the day and the night guiding and manipulating plants. I
wanted to approach the subject of the garden like a cinematographer, and from an unrestrained
attitude and perspective with a number of different suggested inner and outer perspectives,
sometime focusing in at one point or moment and sometimes multiple perspectives in the same
painting, a garden changes day by day and even moment by moment, but the more significant
changes happen not in the garden, but in the mind of the viewer and in his perception of the
garden.
mixed media
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