An iris and a banana walk into a bar…
A watercolor match made in heaven
The next painting I’m sharing from my Grocery and Garden collection is “The splotchy ones (banana and iris)”.
In my last newsletter, linked below, I shared the ethos behind my Grocery and Garden watercolor series. It pairs an item from my garden with an item that can’t be grown in the Colorado climate (and is therefore from the grocery store). I decide on the connection by finding a linkage between the two, and the amazing splashes of color on the iris was paired with the color variation on bananas. Last month I shared the radish and lemon, paired by their bitterness.
My favorite science experiment is gardening
Since moving to Colorado in 2019 I’ve started gardening and continue to be surprised at the variety of produce that can be grown here. My watercolor still life series “Grocery and Garden” pairs an item from my garden with an item that can’t be grown in this climate - hence the series title of produce origin. I decide on the pairing by finding a linkage …
Here’s the final iris and banana still life.
In the early summer we get a carpet of irises beckoning us down our driveway. I love their unique shape and spectrum of colors. In researching their care I discovered that in Greek mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow - very fitting for a favorite flower of mine!
If you’re in Denver, I have two pieces in the Art Students League show Multi-Versatility, up until July 25th. I recommend checking out the show (it’s a good one!) and then walking to the new location of Leven Deli, which does dinner.
Me at the show opening with a produce-forward hairclip for Garden and Grocery paintings
A poem
I recently read All We Can Save, a climate anthology of essays and poems on environmental solutions. It was published in 2020 and edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson. Part of it made me sad - there were certain essays from five years ago where I knew that the possible progress written about with such clarity and hope hasn’t happened. Yet we still need words of guidance, compassion, potential, a north star.
This poem below really spoke to me. I get so much joy from growing flowers, herbs and vegetables, and love the perspective of gardening as an act of environmental and social resistance.
If you’d like more in this vein, I recommend reading
’s commencement speech at Middlebury College:
A road trip
We went to South Dakota last week to see the Badlands and Wind Caves National Parks, have lake time and check out Mt Rushmore while working from Rapid City. It was a great and very relaxing time - let me know if you want travel tips. A few artistic inspiration pictures:
My husband took this of me sketching in the rocks
The Badlands National Park Visitors Center showing art from previous Artists in Residence (Brenda Howell at the top, Polly Townsend below). Why don’t all NP Visitors Centers show their Artists in Residence works?!
The wildlife
Me enjoying Thomas Jefferson’s vanilla ice cream recipe while admiring the sculpture of Mount Rushmore
I hope you get your slice of Americana (the good kind) this week, or just some time to enjoy this great season of summer.
Love, Christina
Such beautiful paintings! Also, that's my mom who wrote that poem :)