ORIGINAL FLORAL PAINTING: WILD ROSE GARDEN

The Wild Rose Garden is an original floral painting from my series of four works titled Into the Garden. The Wild Rose Garden painting highlights an idyllic overgrown summer rose garden with yardwork in progress. The Into the Garden series includes two original landscape paintings and two floral watercolor paintings.

©2023, Erica MacDonald, Wild Rose Garden. Watercolor and gouache, 8 x 10 inches.

Original Floral Painting: Wild Rose Garden

This watercolor and gouache painting is approximately 8 x 10 inches. It’s painted with professional artist-grade paints on thick 300 lb. archival watercolor paper.

This original landscape has elements of realism such as the main subject of the rose and the wheelbarrow. During the landscape painting process, I decided to paint the other details impressionistically to reduce the visual overwhelm of the leaves, shadows, and overgrowth.

Inspiration: Wild Rose Garden

Roses have been a beloved favorite worldwide and are often included in flower beds due to their popularity. Universally across cultures, roses represent love and passion. Even young children know this.

However, as a contemporary landscape painter, my perspective is that this painting and the inspiration behind it go beyond the rose’s traditional symbolism. What fascinates me about this artwork is the presence of the overgrown grass and the slightly unkempt state of the garden.

Creative Living

I found this scene one hot summer afternoon, outside my father-in-law’s front door. Landscaping is a labor of love for him. But, with his three-acre yard, it is difficult to keep it in a pristine state. No sooner than he completes one landscaping task, another section needs mowing, or one of the flower beds needs his attention.

To me, this painting’s overgrown grass and wheelbarrow symbolize our daily routines in life. As soon as we complete a task there is another one that needs addressed and “checked off the list”.

During the intense summer heat, it seems like the work will never end. Realistically, though, we know that winter will come just as sure as the sun rises and sets.

Winter provides a season of rest.

However, even in winter, we have that nagging thought that spring “will be here soon”. Then, we start the internal planning process of all the springtime work that will need to be done in our gardens, homes, and lives.

I believe that this gardening process is symbolic of the daily grind of our lives. Even at rest, our minds continue to till the soil and plan for the future.

Ultimately, the weeds of life start to disrupt our carefully cultivated garden. So, we dig out the wheelbarrow and start to pull the overgrown weeds because we realize how we progress toward our goals. On an intuitive level, we understand that the journey is about progress over perfection.

Erica MacDonald, Wild Rose Garden. Watercolor and gouache, 8 x 10 inches. 2023