Your Life as Art
Making a Home into a Painting
During this time of convalescence, I am somewhat confined to my home base for painting subjects. I cannot possibly consider this a restriction though, because over the last 30 years, Ann and I have been slowly, intentionally transforming it to be a grand painting subject. Monet’s example was but one of our early inspirations for what might be done by artists with a nose for plants, trees, space organization and ecology—given enough time. Before we even bought this property, we were engaged in learning everything we could about those subjects.
We also understood that Monet had considerably more financial resources to draw upon than we in creating his gardens and famous lily pond. Our property is largely forested and hilly, so we have worked with that and given up the notion that a big lily pond would be very practical. Instead, we decided to learn all about trees, build paths and manage our forest so that it would become aesthetically more beautiful and a world-class habitat for wild things. We still desired water lilies, so we set a 6-foot round galvanized steel tank into our patio and planted water lilies in that instead. This has proved to be a wonderful and easily cared for solution which allows us to paint our lilies up close and personal. Here are some watercolors from that feature.
We also have a large meadow space punctuated by some big old black walnut and red oak trees to consider. The meadow is a key feature of our habitat design since many species of birds and mammals require this mixed environment to thrive. It is also a wonderful subject to paint in all seasons. Over the years we have been planting thousands of Narcissus bulbs in it for an early spring display. After that, we mow the meadow part of the summer, and then let the grass get 4 feet tall before it is cut again in the fall. This tall grass is great habitat for nesting red-winged black birds and good cover for everybody else. A simple wide path mown through that creates a beautiful composition early and late, and we never fail to paint some lovely things there, including this large canvas, Shadow Walk.
Now, most folks don’t have such large amounts of ground to play with, or the desire to maintain it, but that should never limit one’s creativity when it comes to making our homes our subjects. A small tank of water, planted with lilies and a little fountain can create a mini-oasis and will immediately attract frogs and dragonflies. Plant some large ceramic pots of flowers and draping greenery wherever there is space and one has an instant composition.
We have written numerous articles about artists and their gardens — click that tab at the top of the page to access them. Then, let your imagination be your guide!