Heavenly Oasis

Gardens make me giddy, none more so than Seaside Gardens, a little botanical garden just south of Santa Barbara which has featured in many of my paintings. It really is a place of endless wonder and whenever I have a blank canvas and am in need of inspiration I head over there. It never disappoints. On this particular day the forecast was for rain so as the sky darkened and the clouds obscured the horizon G and I sped out there and I dashed off this sketch. But when we got home I couldn't shake the feeling something was missing, so the following morning we returned in bright sunshine and there, as if a hidden hand had drawn back a curtain, were the sun-drenched mountains that had been obscured from view the previous day. It truly was heavenly and what a joy it was to paint!