Garden, Forest, and Paint

On a recent morning in my garden, I was struck anew by the tenacity of life bursting forth from winter's grip. As I turned fragrant soil, uprooted stubborn weeds, moved long-legged perennials, and as earthworms and milipedes scuttled away - I had to marvel at life's abundance.

Two local painters who also study the natural life of the North Country are Lee Ann Sporn and Meg Bernstein - both of whom have been subjects of previous posts in the blog. (Click here and here to read some of these.)

Now, the two have mounted a show together in the Cantwell Room of the Saranac Lake Free Library. They have spent the last year visiting the Debar Wilderness area, together and individually, and painting their observations of it.

Each artist works in both watercolor and acrylic, and though each has a distinct style, they harmonize. Lee Ann's watercolor pieces are in the tradition of botanical illustration - she is a biologist, after all, and her paintings are enriched by her careful examination of life's pathways and mechanisms. Her acrylic pieces, however, feature a looser approach: still clear, but more exuberant - perhaps a bit more playful than scientific.

In this exhibit, she pairs the watercolors and acrylics of similar subjects together; for example, above is her acrylic rendering of a jack-in-the-pulpit cluster; below, she depicts a single plant in watercolor. My photos do not do justice to the originals, but perhaps you can see how the watercolor features precise detailing, while the acrylic, though still carefully observed, has looser lines, a greater sense of playful energy.





Meg's pieces take the energy and playfulness even further. Her acrylic paintings remind me of a time I saw original oils by Vincent Van Gogh; the paint swoops with its own ideas, thick and sensuous, leaving luxuriant brushstrokes to hint at the hand behind the work. It's thrilling to see, and inviting to ponder.

Meg's pieces in this show are all landscapes; trees commune with clouds, while colors dance from water to mountain to sky and beyond. The watercolors, too, share the force and vibrancy of our lush North country.






Life is: celebrate! Enjoy art, and make some of your own! For inspiration, dig around in a garden, or walk through some woods, or go see Lee Ann's and Meg's work in Saranac Lake. Or - all of the above!

Adirondack Linnaeus

You just never know who will turn out to be an artist.

Many scientists, trained to careful observation, are also creators of exquisite art works. A famous example of this is Carl Linnaeus, who illustrated his binomial system for the classification of living things in painstaking detail.

This tradition lives on in the North Country. Paul Smiths College biology professor Lee Ann Sporn has a long habit of clear, scientific thought and analysis, enabling her to translate and understand the minutiae of our natural world.

Have you ever strolled a forest path, blithely crushing underfoot the delicate tendrils of new plant life? And did you ever then stop, look, and repent of your carelessness? In Lee Ann's watercolor studies, lobes of fern, curls of blossom, even caterpillar-nibbled leaf edges all leap from their usual obscurity to command our attention, and to remind us of the wonders found in even the smallest living things. They bring to mind the words of William Blake: "To see a world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower..."

In her depiction of trillia clustered on a forest floor, shown above, we notice the veins which carry life-sap to the flowers, even as the industrious ant carries a morsel to its hill. Soft stamens poke forth above delicate stems, as pale springtime sunlight dapples the forest beyond.

Do you remember the feeling of cold, damp earth on a day that promises warmth, the fragrance of leaf mold and moisture? You will, when you look on Lee Ann's thoughtful botanicals.

Although her artistic explorations began in watercolor, Lee Ann has recently been exploring new directions in acrylic paint. Her on-line portfolio charts a journey of growth from a Linnaean style to a looser, more expressive exuberance.

Her mentor (and mine), Meg Bernstein, has helped Lee Ann mature into a wider realm of vision. Meg works broadly in color and shape, catching motion in luxurious brushstrokes. Her paintings, over the years, have developed almost to the abstract, while retaining a strong sense of air, light, and space. Though far from abstract, Lee Ann's work is moving toward a freedom of line clearly inspired by Meg's example.

Meg and Lee Ann will mount a show together this coming April, in the Cantwell Room of the Saranac Lake Free Library. The show will be based on their study of the Debar Forest area.

I, for one, am excited to see Lee Ann's scientific, artistic vision continue to develop.