Sunday, June 23, 2019

Red Maple Inspiration

By Kathy Garvey


I recently spent time at Furnace Mountain Zen Center in Kentucky where I had a month in a wonderful cabin surrounded by wooded mountains and fields. I got to walk every day with my camera and it inspired several paintings and digital works.

On my first walk on my first day I discovered a beautiful but tiny Red Maple down by the barn. (Yes, there is a huge barn, many cabins, a Tea House, a permaculture garden, paths, caves, rock formations, etc. Amazing place!)

The leaves looked blazing in the afternoon sun. I made a point to walk to its location nearly every day to get photos at different times and in different light. Below are a few of my untouched photos of the maple.
The branch from above.

The same branch from below with the sun on it.

So beautiful, I visited it every day! 

Below is one of the paintings I completed while on the retreat. It's acrylic on a beautiful piece of 22"x34"rice paper I bought at Ralph's Art Supply before I left.



Below are digital works inspired by the red maple completed while on my retreat.



This is a digital plan for a future painting on the rice paper.

Maple by the Temple
The Temple is constructed of beautiful wood inside and out and it has a gorgeous blue tile roof. The back of the Temple faces woods and rock formations. The front has a long series of steps down to a pond and the hillside along the steps is covered with milk weed in bloom now, and soon zinnias and cosmos.  (However, the maple is actually located by the barn, quite a distance away. Artistic License!)

More posts to come on my fun artist's retreat and the amazing Furnace Mountain Zen Center!

Kathy Garvey


1 comment:

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