The Symphony

G often reads to me when I'm painting and one of the books I most enjoyed recently is The Magic of Monet's Garden which describes the artist's creation of his beloved garden at Giverny. Monet worked tirelessly to instil the same sense of colour and light in the garden as he had achieved in his legendary paintings, and when G and I came upon this scene in a little botanical garden just south of Santa Barbara the other day all I could think was "Monsieur Monet's garden"! It was an absolute riot of colour, with great banks of flowers stacked up on top of one another, eye-popping yellows and purples, oranges and reds, all marching up towards the sun-drenched mountain. The entire scene seemed to shimmer and dance beneath a blazing blue sky and as I stood there sketching it I felt for all the world like I was conducting a flower-filled orchestra! It truly was amazing and what a joy it was to paint!

This painting is featured in the curated collection Art For The Sanctuary Maker.