|
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Karen North Wells, Cape Cod Artist
In July of this year some members of the Cape Cod Hydrangea Society including
yours truly provided hydrangea information to visitors to Country Garden, a lovely garden center located in Hyannis. Country Garden
has an annual hydrangea celebration with masses of hydrangeas for sale to tempt home gardeners along with special instructional
programs including ours. While we were hosting a hydrangea question and answer session local artist Karen North Wells was
painting hydrangeas nearby. I have loved Karen's art in general and paintings of hydrangeas in particular ever since I discovered
them when I first moved to the Cape, so it was a delight to talk with her and to see her current project in progress.
Even better, I got to see the completed painting a week ago, first on her blog (www.karennorthwells.blogspot.com) and then in person when I viewed it where it is currently displayed at Cape Cup, a coffee shop in Orleans.
Artwork featuring hydrangeas is common on the Cape but Karen's paintings of hydrangeas are uncommonly beautiful. She captures
their vibrant beauty in a way that speaks to me. I particularly like the piece called "The Honeymooners". To
see some of her artwork go to www.karennorthwells.com and I think you will agree that her art is visually stunning. Enjoy!
9:53 am edt
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Dancing Hydrangeas
Last week at this time we were just getting power restored after Irene came through.
Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm before it reached us with significant winds. These winds were not
nearly as threatening as they could have been. We had been worried about trees coming down. Instead we only had small branches
and leaves to clean up in the storm's aftermath.
What I will remember most about this storm was watching my hydrangeas
dance in the wind. Outside my bedroom window I had a clear view of a fairly young 'Incrediball' with its big white flowers.
The wind was tossing those flowers around vigorously and I wondered if they would survive the storm. Beyond them I could see
the big white flowers of H.p. 'Limelight' getting the same treatment. Their whirling dances looked exhausting with no time
for the shrubs to catch their breath before the next buffeting wave of wind came along. I was sure branches would be snapped
off in the wind or, at the very least, flowers would be lost. But I was wrong. When the storm passed they looked fine, a little
bedraggled maybe, but with all flowers intact.
The experience left me impressed with the resilience of my
hydrangeas and grateful my strongest memory is that of dancing hydrangeas and not downed trees.
8:03 am edt
|
