IF THEY ONLY KNEW!

So it's official, I am the Artist in Residence at the Community Garden.

I painted a small canvas of one of the vignettes I photographed at the garden.  What a charming place.  It seems many of these creative gardeners have given their little plots themes and adorned them with beautiful little items that relate to the plants they have chosen.  A mini botanical garden , what a  treasure.  I loved the little New Mexico plot, cactii, special rocks, a colorful license plate. 
So what do these green thumb artists not know about their artist in residence?  I must confess, I have a garden of silk plants.  My house is adorned with window boxes of silk flowers.  I change them with the seasons of the year.  If I had a talent for gardening I probably wouldn't have the time or energy for painting.

We all have our gifts.  Hats off to the gardeners.  Without them how could I paint a garden?

GUILTY PLEASURES

The contractor was stopped dead in my living room staring at the floor.  "What's that?" he said gesturing at my closed french easel.  My guilty conscience clicked right in.  I thought he was pointing at the little contraption I had made from a boosted a piece of the aluminum siding wrap he had left in my garage. For a while now, I had conjured in my mind this little shelf addition to my easel .  When I saw the raw material sitting right there, I seized the opportunity.

I got my tin snips and pliers and set to work.  O.K. so it's not perfect but it will do the trick.
This should make my plein air painting sessions a little more organized.  Ideally this should fit right in the art box but my guilty confiscation of raw material did not allow time for measurement.  The exstacy of a dream fulfilled.

Creativity got the best of me.  Sometimes I just can't help myself.  Painting is not all about the results, it's as much about the process.
My contractor didn't mention the little shelf but I felt he was glaring at it and waiting for an explanation.  I remained silent.  The truth is, I couldn't help myself.

IRIS'S

Last week I painted at Holmdel Park, by the pond.  The Iris's were in full bloom and it was magnificent.  Eat your heart out Claude Monet.  How privileged I felt to catch them at there peak.  What erudite public employee had know just where to place them.

Some days just make me want to hum.
Below is my painting of the Iris's at Holmdel Park.