Saturday, January 24, 2009

Beautiful Rhododendron, pastel painting

Although I am a Colorado native, having been born in Grand Junction, I have very fond memories of life in New Jersey. I attended a bit of junior high school there and all of high school in Maplewood and college in South Orange. New Jersey has "the Garden State" as its slogan and if you watch the opening shots of "The Sopranos", you might think that someone's got it all wrong, there don't appear to be many gardens on the New Jersey Turnpike! The soil there is rich, dark, and full of good things for plants. I have memories of picking incredible strawberries in the southern part of the state and there are even cranberry bogs down there in south Jersey.

One plant I never appreciated until I returned to Colorado to live was the rhododendron. The foliage is dark green and glossy, not bad to look at but somewhat nondescript, and yet the blooms are exquisite. Rhododendron don't thrive in Colorado. I have no idea what the growth requirements are for them but I don't think I've ever seen one growing here. That's too bad, as the blossoms are beautiful, as I hope you'll see in my artwork, "Beautiful Rhododendron".

Here's to New Jersey!


"Beautiful Rhododendron", 16"x20" pastel painting, sold unframed; Paypal preferred, $655 includes s&h, e-mail me at KarlaNolan@gmail.com for more information




www.KarlaNolan.com
www.dailypainters.com
www.dailyartpainters.com
http://fineartamerica.com/artwork/tag/Karla+Nolan
www.marketplace-daily-art.blogspot.com
www.KarlaNolan.blogspot.com
www.fineprintcollection.com/artists/karlanolan

4 comments:

JEANNE ILLENYE said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JEANNE ILLENYE said...

Well, Karla, I just HAVE to write as I'm a "Jersey Girl" born and raised!! ...from Bergen County! Yes, the "Garden State" identification is as you know, based on the fact that all produce for NYC was from NJ farms up until the 1950's or so. As the city expanded, the countryside diminished and eventually gained the negative reputation a newcomer sees from Newark airport. However, New Jersey's earth is fertile and rich, per your descriptions of harvesting beautiful fruit! We're in Michigan now and miss so much of our home state! Nice to meet a fellow "Jersey Girl". Of course your painting is absolutely beautiful and I, too, love Azaleas and their cousins, the Rhododendrons! You've done an excellent job with color and composition here, zooming in on this beautiful woodland blossom!! Jeanne

AJ said...

This is a BEAUTIFUL painting, Karla! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Birds painting ),Avian oil paintingBirds oil painting ) such as Peacock, Parrot, egretMandarin duck, magpie, and eagle

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