Spring's Glory

Azaleas. Oil on stretched canvas, 12x12. sold

On Saturday, Jill Blanchette and I traveled to Kingston, Rhode Island, near URI, to paint in the Kinney Azalea Garden.

There's color everywhere! Pink and red, white and cream, orange and lilac and magenta and fuscia, salmon and crimson and yellow - the color streams out in cascades, curves down beckoning paths, cuts through dark green foliage. When you walk into this garden, it feels like you're walking into the heart of spring itself.

Here are a couple of links to the azalea garden: www.gdeb.com/organizations/EBAC/garden_club/kinney.htm and kinneyazaleagardens.com/

If you live around here, or can get here in the next week or so, you really should see this place. It's open every day, during daylight hours, and it's free. They accept donations, and you can buy azaleas there to plant, too.

Jill and I had a great day, exploring and painting. It was her first plein-air experience and she enjoyed it, for sure. For me, no other paint experience approaches the joy of standing in a breathtaking landscape, soaking it up and and bringing it to the canvas. I think Jill got a good taste of that on Saturday.

To see her marvelous paintings and fascinating portraits, check out her spot on the Hygienic's website: http://hygienic.ning.com/profile/JillBlanchette

Thanks for reading!