a painting of my neighbor’s garden

hello ~

I made a “plein air” painting recently–and I put plein air in quotes since I completed most of the painting inside, and besides, the part I did outside was only just outside the front door–with gouache. As thou canst see from the title, I painted my neighbor’s front garden, which is why I didn’t have to go very far to make this “plein air” painting. I used an impressionistic style since I did not quite know what I was doing.

Above is my rough sketch; it doesn’t look very understandable but ’tis good enough to be able to paint it. There are hanging succulents above and rose bushes below, along with many snake plants and a few bricks. At the edges, I drew the posts and the top, the roof.

Alas I failed to take photos of my process, so we shall skip straight from the sketch to the finished painting.

Shortsightedly, I painted the foreground before the background, and everything turned out a little bit messy, but the impressionist style lended itself to the messiness, so it turned out fine. I particularly enjoy the gray background; it makes the colors look brighter. The snake plants have a pretty mix of colors; howbeit, they are not well distinguished from the rose bushes behind. My favorite plants are most likely the hanging succulents; I fancy the shades of purple and teal.

I must also include a photo in which the sun casts delightful shadows upon the painting.