Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Kinney Azaleas - and Paradise City

Kinney Azalea Path
Oil on canvas, 12x48
Available at Center Framing and Art, West Hartford Center, CT

Just down the road from the University of Rhode Island are the Kinney Azalea Gardens, a paradise of color and bloom and the sweet promise of spring. 

Lorenzo and Elizabeth Kinney started the gardens in 1927 at their home on Kingstown Road. According to a website about the gardens, Lorenzo's father - the first professor of botany at URI (then the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts) - helped launch the project, with plants from the Lowland Rhododendron Farm. 

These days, there are more than 800 types of azaleas and rhododendrons on the property. They come in all sorts of colors, orange and yellow and white and of course the amazing pinks and reds that are more typical. 

The bushes bloom generally during the middle of May, and while I haven't been there this year yet, it is possible that the gardens are still in bloom. You can also buy azaleas and rhododendrons there, too! 

There is no fee to walk the gardens. Donations and plant sales provide the funds to keep the gardens up and running, so if you go, please leave them a little something! 


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THE AZALEA PAINTING IS one of the ones I will have at the Paradise City Arts Festival this weekend, Saturday through Monday, at the Three-County Fairgrounds in Northampton, MA. You will find me in the Morgan Barn, the smallest of the three buildings at the fair. 

This is a wonderful show, filled with top-quality art and craft, including paintings, sculpture, jewelry, clothing, furniture, glass and lots more. Local restaurants are part of the show, too, so you can count on having a good lunch! 

There is a fee to enter the fairgrounds, and you can get a $2 discount by printing a coupon you can find on the Paradise City Arts website (http://www.paradisecityarts.com/), along with lots more information. 

Hope to see you there! 

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 Dog of the Day 
I met these chow mixes at the art festival in Arlington a couple weeks ago. They were as cute as can be! 

Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

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A Final Thought

"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does, the better." 

- Andre Gide


1 comment:

Unknown said...

FABULOUS! Absolutely love the freedom, and the riot of color!