Lavender & the Mountain
Each year, the blooming of flowers in succession takes us through the seasons, tethering us to the Earth’s biological clock. Where I live, that means crocuses in March, daffodils in April, lilacs in May, sage in June. Lovely lavender blooms in July, signaling high summer. The flowers shown here were gloriously fragrant, abuzz with bees. And behind the flowers were the mountains, lushly forested.
It was the juxtaposition of the mountains and the flowers that inspired this painting. I love painting large objects in the foreground of a landscape, cutting across a distant view. The spacial relationship between near and far creates tension. Typically, I paint the foreground rather crudely and make the distant landscape more refined – which might seem counterintuitive, unless you consider it a farsighted perspective. Somehow I always want the closer objects to be more impressionistic.
This scene was only visible from ground level, where my eyes just happened to be, because I was in a swimming pool adjacent to the flowers. Pausing between laps, I found myself at eye level with the lavender plants, looking upward toward the ridge. From this perspective, the flowers were bigger than the mountains! In between the two, the split-rail fence provided geometric contrast. This manmade structure seemed to tie together the near and far irregular, organic shapes – and in a flash, the image crystalized in my mind. I had no art supplies with me, so I took a photo and created the painting from that – not ideal, but the best I could do.
It was a hot July day, and the sun was strong, casting a dark red tint in the shadows of the leaves. I’ve long noticed this curious phenomenon, and found a convenient explanation online: When intense sunlight strikes a leaf, chlorophyll absorbs the blue and red light to power photosynthesis, but re-emits a tiny fraction of this absorbed energy as deep-red and near-infrared fluorescent light. Very interesting! I tried to capture this subtle red tint in the painting, and to convey the feeling of a hot summer day..
Like many of my landscapes, this one begged for a much larger canvas, but I had no such time. I made a gift of the painting to the folks who graciously allowed me to swim in their beautiful salt-water pool. You couldn’t ask for a better, or more fragrant, view.
A good week to all!
D. Yael Bernhard
https://dyaelbernhard.com
Have you seen my other Substack, The Art of Health? In addition to being a visual artist, I’m also a certified integrative health & nutrition coach with a lifelong passion for natural food cooking and herbal medicine. Now in its second year, this illustrated newsletter explores cutting-edge concepts of nutrition. I strive to make relevant information clear and accessible, and to anchor essential health concepts in unique images. Check it out, and if you like it, please subscribe and help spread the word. Your support keeps my work going!