It was lovely to sit with you in that humid place. Drawing, looking, and sharing time.
Among the rush of days during that season, our day stands out.
October 30, 2017
Garfield Park Conservatory
10 thoughts on painting with Leslie on New Year’s Eve at Garfield Park Conservatory, 2019
An oasis.
The drag of the brush in the pigment.
The contrast of the cold, ice, and snow, and the warmth, humidity, and smell of plants.
The difficulty of choosing a place and perspective to paint.
Curious children and adults. Adults who want to reminisce with me. Me ignoring the adults and talking to the children.
The pleasure of working with large pans of intense, pure color, jade green and red in particular.
Breathing in oxygen-rich, warm, humid air.
Enjoying Leslie’s hospitality of providing the materials, furniture, and time.
Reconnecting in conversation as we work together.
Trying and failing to capture the intensity of the magenta against green, and the Fibonacci sequence of the palm tree trunk.
December 31, 2019
Garfield Park Conservatory
Dip a toe eye hand
Day before they close it down
The paint dries like hope
May 12, 2019
Garfield Park Conservatory
It was such a scary time when we met. Everything felt unsure, incomplete and new. The chance to paint together brought me in to connection with purpose and practice.
March 18, 2020
Remote upstate NY
Here it begins:
Memory is tricky, But
great experiences are made through extraordinary events.
And this event, my time in the park with leslie
that she made an opening for, cultivated by her
unrehearsed by me
took form as organically in plain site
as the drawings we made
while we took site and plein aired our site
the location was intimate and open
we had visitors both Woman, Child, Animal, Insect
that flew for us, and told us what we were doing was beautiful and took our photo
it was a moment where connections and differences were made and noted
where seeds for imaginative projections were made
an archaic event, two humans in greenery, trying to make sense of their own relationship, to an external world through image making
showing each other what they saw, how they see, seeing who got it right, and whose window directed us forward
oh it was a memory all right, one that stuck
August 16, 2019
Humboldt Park
September 2, 2017
Humboldt Park
November 26, 2019
Garfield Park Conservatory
Our time together in Garfield Conservatory reminded me of how that place and painting lift my spirit in the grey season (i.e., winter), amplified by your good company. Painting with you was my first time making a watercolor since I was a kid. You inspired me to return to the medium, which has brought so much color to the last months.
Our time at the Conservatory, and and again over Zoom at the start of the pandemic, was also a reminder of how painting with a friend is like walking with one; having ours hands or feet in motion can create space for a certain kind of kinship.
January 3, 2020
Lincoln Park Conservatory
March 25, 2020
Remote Chicago
A warm and humid conservatory visit with Leslie resulted in tropical drawings and tropical yearnings…..and such fun!
October 17, 2018
Lincoln Park Conservatory
With a sprawling display of ferns in the background, we both painted what was in front of our faces.
August 13, 2020
Humboldt Park
March 7, 2018
Garfield Park Conservatory
