After painting the white themed painting for the Happy Gardens theme it seemed natural for me to then do another painting based on just one colour, and one type of flower to feature in it. I’ve always loved lavender and at my last house had a stone pathway in the garden that I built myself and lined with lavender bushes since I wanted the scent of them to fragrance the garden as I brushed past them.
I found a couple of photos to work from for the source photos for this painting and again wanted a round pool with a pale stone edging to feature in this lavender painting.
I purposely painted the pathway through the lavender bushes in shades of yellow, being the opposite colour to purple on the colour wheel and adding to the contrast of the purple themed painting.
Even though there is just one type of flower within the painting there are lots of underlying colours under the lavender, with splashes of pink, turquoise, and yellow giving a vibrancy to the picture. Its a simple picture but there was a lot of careful planning and placing of the stems of the lavender leaning into the pathway but not blocking it, so the viewer should be invited in to this garden and sit a while on the pale green bench, complete with two X’s in the design (as kisses!) for lovers to sit together.
And this garden path leads off to the side of the pool as well, so you know there is more to explore in this garden when you are ready to do so.
I have been intrigued with this painting that most people who have seen the collection of these paintings together in real life have reacted more favourably to this painting than the others. And I can only presume that they can smell the lavender in the air from the way I have painted it, which is compliment enough for it, and why I have called the painting “Scents of lavender”.
It is in acrylics on canvas, and measures 20 x 16 inches.
And again I love the mysterious depth of water in the pool, the reflections of the lavender bushes in it and the little fountain gently splashing up and out to form the conical shape and small ripples of movement within the surface of the water.