Painting green

Education Center at the NC Botanical Garden, 8x10" watercolor

I’m itching to paint today, and paint I will. Sometimes I wonder if some of you are thinking, “I wish that lady would do more painting and less writing.” I’ve always liked telling stories. It may be a Southern thing. Long before blogs and long before I was writing a weekly newsletter, my best California friend used to call my verbal reports “Brenda stories.”

So here’s the yarn that goes with these two paintings. Several members of PAINT NC were invited to paint en plein air during the recent Chapel Hill Garden Tour. Our designated location was the North Carolina Botanical Garden. What a privilege it was to paint there. The gardens are amazing, but so is the building there known as the Education Center. It’s a green building. This used to mean a color, then it meant jealousy, then it meant money, not necessarily in this order. How confusing this must be to people green to the English language. Now the word green often means environmentally friendly. I think we should just call them Smart Buildings. I so admire people and institutions who use (or don’t use) our resources wisely. Dr. Peter White, the Director of the NC Botanical Garden, bikes to work. He’s smart too.

Nestled in the herb garden is the Rosemary Garden. I was attracted by the scent, but also by the path that led to a white climbing rose arbor, a wonderful respite on hot summer days.

View from the Rosemary Garden, 8x10" watercolor