This summer I returned to my 'home' state of Vermont and while the locals weren't happy about the week of rain and chillier weather they were having in the midst of summer, I happened to love it as a great departure from the California drought. Everywhere we went it was green. I could see the Queen Anne's lace and the goldenrod blooming and trees in full green everywhere. Now I did add in a terrible new weed in this painting, the purple loosestrife, to add a little color in the right foreground. Purple loosestrife has invaded the state and while very pretty, it chokes out the natives and really changes the color of the landscape. As a late teen I purchased a book on wildflowers from a new and used bookstore in Lyndonville and collected many and pressed them into one of those plastic photo albums. I had a little time on my hands between semesters and would bike around the Lyndon area collecting and pressing plants and doing my best to identify what was around me and try not to get lost on dirt roads without a map (pre GPS so you better remember where you've been). So, upon zooming in on the photo basis of this painting, the tan grass seeds seem to be a non-native, and of course the purple loosestrife is new as well. The Queen Anne's lace was indeed abundant along with the goldenrod, but it would have been more in keeping with my memories of the past to see more milkweed with browning milkweed pods mixed in. As to the book on wildflowers, I ran low on money and sold it back to the little bookstore I had bought it from and got a lift back to college.
Here is the video of the painting being made, enjoy!
