Midsummer Garden is a homage to the wonderful garden our neighbor, Mrs. Kroll, tended. The garden ran along a massive stone wall that separated the Kroll’s house from their dairy barn. Unlike our flower gardens, which featured marigolds, snapdragons, phlox, zinnias, and cosmos, the Kroll garden was filled with huge, sumptuous (and to me exotic) flowers such as gladioli, massive dahlias, and sunflowers. All the neighborhood kids raided Mrs. Kroll’s compost heap regularly, looking for blossoms fresh enough to bring home to the moms. Mrs. Kroll never interfered with our foraging. I like to think she was smiling from her window. Details below. Enjoy.

Technical painting notes: I used primarily soft rubber rollers to work up this painting, beginning with a dark layer that blocked in some of the primary shapes. Brushes were used selectively to refine a shape or line. At times, I used the edge of the roller to draw fine contour lines. My goal was to capture the essence of the subject while maintaining the freedom to interweave line and overlapping shapes expressively.