Travel Notes from the Easel: Historic Woodruff Place

Old oak trees cast cool shade across a parkway of splashing fountains and flower urns, and history seems to cast calm and joy upon entering Woodruff Place, a Victorian neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana. I grew up in a large white Queen Anne house in Woodruff Place and have many happy memories of the sounds of water in the fountains. At night I can still hear the same sound of distant train whistles on the old tracks which pass about a mile away. Very little car traffic passes through the shady drives as I set up my painting easel in front of the lovely old houses looking out onto the peaceful parkway on the three drives. 

So, I am drawn many summer days out into the neighborhood to paint. And after roaming and painting, I finally begin to study the garden surrounding our Queen Anne home. I am the third generation to live here which means that three women - grandmother, mother, and now I - have added our touches to beautify the garden with wrought-iron balconies, large urns, bird baths, sundials, statues, and an herb garden with a burial plot for two of my mother's beloved dogs. The garden is shaded as I move through it to select sites to paint.

One-Minute Charcoal Sketches 

I have developed a process which begins with quick, one-minute charcoal sketches of a view I might like to paint. I do several sketches with very black charcoal and white chalk on grey charcoal paper.  When I am satisfied with the composition of black, grey, and white shapes, and have a story to tell, I am ready to repeat the process with oil paint on linen canvas. Oils bring in the added elements of color which I tone down to the same degrees of dark and light. I search for the dark, middle, and light tones in color which I find in nature. I like the dramatic contrasts of shadow and light. So, the drama I seek is the contrast between light and shade and shapes which seem to converse with one another.

Horsehead Hitching Posts (700 Middle Drive, Woodruff Place, Indianapolis), 2.75" x 4", $25.

Hitching Posts, 6" x 8", $550.

The first painting is of horsehead hitching posts which stand along the drive in front of our house. I find the animated objects seem to want to run back into the painting along the walkway and into the sun, back past the dark tree trunk. To pull the subject and viewer into the depth of the painting and to give the objects stability on the ground, I use linear perspective. I have learned a lot about perspective in my studies of Italian Renaissance art and the opportunities have come during the 12 painting trips to Italy to paint in formal villa gardens. There is a similarity, I think, in Renaissance gardens and Woodruff Place, the sense of manmade artifacts in nature's grandeur.

Amused by the Birds

Along the north-drive hedge in our garden, I next do a thumbnail sketch of a large, handsome urn where deep pink geraniums bloom. Just over the hedge, I see the neighbor's carriage house and, on that day, I am amused by the birds perched on a telephone wire. I almost laugh as I set up my easel to do a quick value sketch of the scene. I select one of the sketches and pull out the color paints to simulate the same scene. Again, I find drama in the contrast of sunlight and dark shade.

Twitter Birds Over the Hedge (Woodruff Place, Indianapolis), 3" x 4", $25.

Twitter Birds (Woodruff Place), 6.5" x 10", $550.

In our south garden, stands the summer season statue (one of four seasons inspired by statues found in Venice, Italy). The statue is holding grapes. It animates the scrolling wrought-iron fence that encloses the herb garden and, at that moment, tall lily flowers on long stems seem to point toward the statue. I draw several minute sketches before I get the composition that pleases me. And oil painting proceeds.

Gathering Grapes (700 Middle Drive, Woodruff Place,

Indianapolis), 3" x 4.25", $25.

Gathering Grapes (Woodruff Place), 7" x 9", $525

Growing up in a Park

I often wondered why I selected Renaissance formal gardens in Italy to set up my easel to create paintings on location - called plein air painting. Italian gardens have lovely trees, hedges, urns, fountains, and statues. And I wonder if my love of such gracious gardens I have gone great distances to paint are really inspired by Woodruff Place. Growing up in a park like Woodruff Place has had a profound impact on why I am so fulfilled when I paint nature's gardens.