The Meadow

The first time G and I visited the Santa Barbara botanical gardens our car sprung a leak right outside the entrance and we had to turn right around and nurse it back down the steep road into town to get it repaired so we never actually got to see inside the gardens. After that inauspicious start I was a bit reluctant to go back again for fear of a repeat mechanical meltdown but the lure the glimpse of the gardens had given me that first day held sway so back we went, canvas in hand, and boy am I glad we did! Once inside the entrance we followed the little path down and around to the right and as I looked up I felt a jolt of wonder at the scene stretched out before us; the brilliant orange and yellow flowers shining like a carpet in the meadow, the fabled giant redwoods rising up hundreds of feet from the valley below, the purple foothills nestled happily beneath the protective embrace of the magnificent sundrenched mountain. It was absolutely breathtaking and what a joy to paint!