Louise Bourne, Garden Path Diptych, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in., 2018.
This painting is part of a series on urban roadways and country lanes. It is based on looking from my deck, out the garden path, and down the driveway. I enjoy working with the flatness of painting, right along with the illusion of moving through deep space. The painting features the blooming crabapple tree on the left, reaching toward the red beach plum on the right. I try to paint this miraculous puzzle of bloom mass every year. The painting is overall green. The figure’s face, mid-path, is awash in a strange spring green, as if from light bouncing off shiny new growth. Reds contrast, mute, and structure the greens. The distant bicycler gives a nod to a favorite Fairfield Porter painting and the garden path to a beloved one by Monet.