"House and Hydrangea" Collection

Every summer I fall in love all over again with Portland and its yards overflowing with flowers. On my walks to and from work I pause frequently to “stop and smell the roses” – and photograph the various blooming flowers. This summer, I was particularly drawn to all the hydrangeas in my neighborhood and specifically to the colors of hydrangeas against colorful houses. 

Hydrangeas have always been special to me; until they fell victim to deer a few years ago, periwinkle hydrangeas bloomed in front of my parents’ cedar shingle & white trim beach house every summer.

I am easily delighted, and I absorb inspiration everywhere, not necessarily knowing how it will show up in a piece of my art. For instance, a few summers ago, I snapped a photo of my husband paddle boarding on Hood Canal in Washington; I wanted to capture the moment, but I also loved the color of his coral swim trunks against the green-blue water. That color combo showed up a year later in a painting that was based on the shape of a rhododendron bush on my running route – definitively not a painting of my husband, water, or a paddle board.

The inspiration-to-painting connection is more literal with the hydrangeas I saw this summer; the photos turned into my six-piece “House and Hydrangea” series. The paintings are abstracted and graphic but they are all based directly on photos I took.

The series includes three 36”x36” paintings on canvas, one 12”x12” painting on canvas, and two 6”x6” paintings on wood blocks. The paintings are available to my email list at 9 am PT on Friday, Sept. 5. The paintings will be available on my website and in my gallery starting at 11 am on the 5^th.