Botanical Reverie: Bloedel Reserve
Notes on a residency
The year unfolded predictably, yet the acceleration towards the end has surprised me, as it always does. Sadly, it signals the end of my residency at Bloedel Reserves. I was granted full access and was witness to the slow and steady turning of the seasons starting with the barrenness of winter, the magical burst of spring to the long days of summer followed by its beauty in demise; the arrival of Autumn. .
My initial intentions were to gather knowledge and on site experience with the rich and varied botanical world that Bloedel provided. I began a sketchbook that included one ink drawing of each plant and a more abstracted sketchbook entry. I embellished this goal by photographing beyond what I could observe in one session because I found myself interested in the context of that one plant and its interaction with the surrounding environment. All of this work was done in service to a series of paintings which I will be starting in 2025.
The second act of my plan turned out to be a means of discovering my own joy in focused observation of nature and the challenge of expanding my visual language to traditional plein air painting. Oh, there absolutely were some disasters, but there was learning and growing and becoming more comfortable and fluid with each painting. I completed 15 sessions, each lasting 2 ½ to 3 hours on site and then another 2 hours in the studio to finish. I learned to translate the landscape to my own visual language; color saturated, skewed perspective, blocks of color with little regard for value or tone. In the end, I am always interested in the feelling of the thing while I am standing there, rather than the thing itself. With this residency
