In May of 2000 our gardens were replete with, literally, thousands of roses, iris, peonies, dianthus and wisteria.  As I set up my painting sundries and prepared to paint the garden, I found my gaze drifting into the distance -- Looking past the prismatic blooms to the river flats.  Serene and mystical --  this serpentine prairie, across which the river has whip-lashed over the centuries, is as subtle and profound a motif as the water itself.  I find myself transported by the atmospheric haze which gently modulates through myriad tints of blue and lavender, and occasionally flashes coral and lemon at sunset or dawn, and glows with a pearlescent light as the moon rises over the valley.  Then, there are the archetypal trees -- this universal motif holding echoes of the Epte and the Seine, Monet, Pissarro and Van Gogh. 

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