Rising Through the Garden

Rising Through the Garden
10 x 10 • Oil and Cold Wax Medium

I painted Rising Through the Garden plein air at the Ventura Botanical Gardens on a cold, overcast day. The light was muted and the landscape felt subdued, so I began with a red ground to bring warmth and energy into the painting. As I worked, bits of that underlying color remained visible, creating a lively tension against the cooler greens, blues, and violets of the garden.

Rather than focusing on botanical detail, I was drawn to the rhythms of the vegetation and the way the forms seemed to emerge from one another. The central light shape became an anchor within the composition, surrounded by layers of texture, color, and mark-making that suggest growth and movement.

For me, this painting captures the resilience and vitality of a garden even on a gray day—a reminder that color and life are often just beneath the surface, waiting to reveal themselves.