An Island Garden

It seems that I have been out of the painting spirit lately, but yesterday I finished this pastel painting of my next door neighbor and her baby daughter. I took it to work to show my co-workers and received the best compliments an artist could ever imagine or hope for. My friend said that, as a mother, herself, it brought tears to her eyes. Yahooo because I want people to see what I see and feel what I feel. I hope the mother I painted if for will feel the same. I hope the baby grows up to love flowers, nature and the earth as I do. When my hollyhocks were at their best, I asked the Mom in the painting to come over and take a look. She had never seen hollyhocks. She and the baby looked so pretty that I ran inside and got my camera. Instead of painting them with the wall of the house in the background though, I put an ocean behind them as if they were on an island. The island that I had in mind was Appledore Island off the coast of New Hampshire. Celia Thaxter wrote about this island in her book, An Island Garden. This little book first published in 1894 kept my imagination occupied all winter long as I read it (twice!) and dreamed about planting my own garden with brilliant red poppies and beautiful hollyhocks.