Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Painting a Victorian Couple in the Garden

Rod and Gretchen, colored pencil, watercolor, and gouache
Rod Caravella and Gretchen Fenston posed for me in Edwardian attire at the New York Botanical Garden, as part of the fun surrounding their summer exhibition "Impressionism: American Gardens on Canvas." 

Photo by Susan Toplitz
Last weekend was the Plein Air Invitational, with over 20 outstanding plein air artists coming to the gardens to paint on location. As soon as there's an online gallery of the results, I'll post a link.

Thanks to all who attended and the staff and volunteers at NYBG who engineered the magic.

3 comments:

Tom Hart said...

Very nice painting. The first thing that popped into my mind was "Carnation Lily Lily Rose". The flash of light on top of the boater really helps to nail down the spotty lighting.

Do you often paint on facing pages in your sketchbook? If so, have you had many issues with one surface damaging the other?

James Gurney said...

Thanks, Tom. I usually don't paint on facing pages, because there is often a transfer. Glad you reminded me of that, because maybe I'll tack in a little piece of tissue paper to separate the two.

Braelyn Snow said...

Wonderful! These outfits are so fun, and I love the warms/cools in the clothing.