After Visiting the Garden

On Tuesday I visited a local painting group. This is a congenial group of women who meet each week, and who often paints flowers. While I don't particularly want to paint flowers, they are lots of fun, and always trying new techniques. Tuesday they were painting sunflowers, and I realized that most of my personal reference photos bit the dust this summer when my hard drive crashed, so I decided to trek over to Janesville's Rotary Gardens to take some new photos. It wasn't a sunny day, so no dramatic shadows, and also no sunflowers. The gardens are beautiful in any light though, good in visit any season. If you are a painter and want to adapt these for your own work, feel free. I'd love to see what you do.

There are formal French and Italian gardens, but I have a special fondness for the Japanese garden, with its paths, waterfalls, and statuary.

I actually prefer the Japanese bridge in fall or winter, since the contrast of red and green is very strong. When there are autumn leaves the bridge integrates into the scene more pleasantly, I think. Still, it's fun to stand on the bridge and watch the fish and turtles swim under.

There is statuary everywhere. This lady stand in an herb garden.

A carved head, rescued from a demolished building, peeks out behind flowers, adding a little delight to a stone wall.

Of course there are flowers everywhere. These begonias cascaded from a hanging basket.

There are lots of benches in the gardens, inviting the visitor to sit and enjoy the colors of the season. Most feature quotes, and I jotted down this one, which applies to all sorts of artistic endeavors:

Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful or to discover something that is true.

William Inge