"Annakaren's Roses" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") nfs

nfs

During my family's Scandinavian vacation, we stayed for three nights at the farm that belongs to my husband's Swedish colleague, Hans.  The farm, located north of Stockholm, has been in the family for generations.  There are 17 structures in the estate, including several cottages, where Hans's three sisters and their children come to stay during the summer. 

On the second day of our visit, we were supposed to go to Stockholm for sightseeing, then meet up with Hans for dinner at his college campus in Uppsala (Hans is a professor at Uppsala University, which is the oldest, prestigious university in Sweden).

Alas!  We never got to leave the farm that day.  With the sudden heat wave (reaching up to the 90's!) and the long, long daylight, which deprived us of much sleep, the result was fatigue and dehydration.  My daughter fainted right after breakfast; she fell forward, briefly losing consciousness.  As she was falling, one of her front teeth hit the wooden floor.  There was a lot of bleeding and the tooth got knocked askew. 

Hans, a kind and caring person, fussed over her and insisted that we should take her to the emergency.  My mother's instinct told me that what she needed was a day's rest.  So she rested all day; I got to sketch around the farm.  We all enjoyed the day of rest immensely.  As it turns out, the most treasured memory of our Scandinavian vacation is Hans's farm and his family.

"Annakaren's Roses" (watercolor sketch)

Annakaren is Hans's second sister, who was staying at the farm with her husband for the whole summer.  It was she who showed me the many buildings around the farm.  The roses that I sketched were planted by her a few years ago and were doing very well.  She (and the entire family) admired my sketch at the dinner later that day, so I decided to paint an oil version for her.

"Hans's Farm" (watercolor sketch"

"Monet's Rose Arbors" (oil on stretched canvas; 14" x 18") sold

sold

If there is the heaven for rose lovers, it will look exactly like this. I can stay in this garden of Monet's with a row of rose arbors forever!

"Rose Sprigs" (oil on stretched canvas; 8" x 10")

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By Thursday, the temperature hit 90's!  Prudently we painted inside, myself choosing a small bouquet of roses as the subject.  As it turned out, this painting turned out to be the most difficult project of the workshop.

My teacher, Danni Dawson, is a master of contemporary realism, renowned for her luminous portraiture and exquisite still life.  She showed us how to paint the rose, gooseberry, strawberry, melon, and glass bottle.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't paint like her; I simply did not have her patience of painting a petal by petal!

I brought the roses home, hoping to finish the painting.  The flowers died in a refrigerator.  The thing to do, as Danni assured us many times, was to paint the way I painted.  So I did.  Using the image on my smart phone as the reference, I made finishing touches on "Rose Sprigs". 

The beginning of the painting

Many steps later.

"Rose Basket" (watercolor on Yupo; 8" x 10")

matted (11" x 14")
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I hear that there is another snow storm coming up this week.  Yikes.  Here is an "escape art" for my readers.  A basket full of fragrant, old-fashioned roses.  Ah, the pleasure of summer garden!

"Beth's Rose Arbor" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

sold

Reference photo

Beth is a dear friend of mine who went to graduate school together in Minnesota.  She, a fellow historian, was indeed my first American friend, who helped me acculturate to the new country.  Several years later, Beth, a person with a heart of gold, took time and trouble to edit my 400-page-long PhD dissertation!  Alas, we haven't seen each other for almost 20 years.  The only remaining contact was the annual Christmas card, which kept us in touch. 

That was until we reconnected through Facebook.  We now know what's happening in our lives, family, and house.  I saw the robin's nest with four eggs right on a window sill at her house and worried whether they would make it.  They did.  Last week she posted several pictures of her garden; one particular picture of the rose arbor caught my eye.  I asked her if I could paint from it.  She replied "yes" and emailed me the full file. 

We agreed that the gas meter and other evidence of the everyday suburban life be edited out from a painting.  Since I have never been to her house, I couldn't tell what was beyond the inviting arbor/gate, heavily laden with the old-fashioned roses called "Pinky".  So I had to make up as I went along.  I am not a big fan of the late Thomas Kinkade, but "Beth's Rose Arbor" has the Kinkadian romantic feel, doesn't it?  I hope Beth approves.