Of Living Walls and Painting

Living Wall Ferns, Longwood Gardens, 10 x 8",
Acrylic on Canvas, by Tracy Feldman

 This little painting is of ferns that are part of the  living wall in Longwood Gardens' glass house.  The living wall covers three walls in a specially built annex to the main glass house. I believe the gardens designed the annex to test out what would be needed to have the type of living wall that so many science fiction movies pictured as being part of long-distance space colonization ships. The reality with a twist part of me loves the fact that not only is this annex beautiful to look at, but it also has a practical purpose: as a set of bathroom "pods" for the gardens' many guests.  Behind each  door below hides an individual, space-age looking bathroom stalls.

     I'm going to paint the hall some time because it appeals to my quirky sense of humor, and it has a historical tie to my artistic past, too.  One of the first large watercolors I ever painted was of wisteria draping down over the trellised walkway of a stuccoed bathroom building at a California winery.

Living Wall in Bathroom Complex,
Longwood Gardens, Kennett Sq., PA

I painted the close-up of the ferns because I love their shapes and as an exercise in creating an interesting, depth-filled painting in a monochromatic color scheme. It was fun to figure out how to do that only using greens of different intensities and color balance.  Something else that appealed to me about creating this image is that normally the rules of atmospheric perspective work because the hues and details of background objects fade in intensity, and get "bluer" as they recede.  Thus it was fun flipping those rules this time.  Notice that the main subject fern is much bluer and lighter/faded in parts than the deeper ferns, but the contrast still makes the painting "read" correctly.  I hope you enjoy, and will be interested in hearing your comments.

• This work is also up for auction on the Daily Paintworks site.  Bidding will start at $25.  If it doesn't sell at auction, I'll include it in the small works section of my next show, for considerably more than the starting bid. Click here, or on the Daily Paintworks icon to the right to get to my gallery and bid.