Friday, August 14, 2015

Restful Garden

Restful Garden
Oil  12" x 16"
click here for Paypal
$495.00 + $10. s/h

Recently, several members of my plein air group, Garden Artists, painted in private gardens on a local garden tour.  It was a great event;  a huge tour, beautiful gardens, wonderful people, and new locations for plein air work.  We were thrilled to have been invited.

These adirondack chairs were in the back yard of the house where I painted Saturday morning.  They were right outside the back door and seemed like such a great place for a restful moment, perhaps enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the early evening.

The owners of the house told me that their son got them these Adirondack chairs many years ago in Maine.  I Googled "Adirondack chairs" to learn a bit more.  Here is what I learned:  "The first Adirondack chair was designed by Thomas Lee while vacationing in Westport, New York, in the Adirondack Mountains in 1903. Needing outdoor chairs for his summer home, he tested his early efforts on his family. After arriving at a final design for a "Westport plank chair," he offered it to a carpenter friend in Westport in need of a winter income, Harry Bunnell.[1] Bunnell saw the commercial potential of such an item being offered to Westport's summer residents, and apparently without asking Lee's permission filed for and received U.S. patent #794,777 in 1905.[2] Bunnell manufactured hemlock plank "Westport chairs" for the next twenty years, painted in green or medium dark brown, and individually signed by him."

I wasn't able to finish any of the paintings on location during the Garden Tour as there were so many people attending.  It was a great opportunity to meet new people and share my art.  I finished this piece later in my studio.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Great painting, Pam. Love the dappled sunlight on the chairs. Natalie did a similar painting of two Adirondack chairs not too long ago. Your painting group sounds so nice.
Don't know if you got it but I sent you an email via your blog site.{Not a comment, but an email} It was on your last post when you received the award for your snow creek painting

hmuxo said...

A beautiful subject, Pam. I love these chairs and your shadows are perfectly painted.

Pam Holnback said...

Thank you Pattie. I'm going to go back and check my emails. Love all of your thoughts and comments.

Hilda, Thanks so much. Sometimes, the light and shadow is perfect right in front of you and sometimes you need to use a bit of artists license and week a bit.