Down Garden Paths

A dear friend blessed me with about seventy books on art that stirred up a new excitement in me. It’s like stepping through a lovely arbor to a magical place full of beauty and wonder and witnessing the perseverance of artists who couldn’t breathe unless the scent of paint, turpentine and canvas was in the air.
It’s difficult to know which book to start absorbing. Somehow ‘Down Garden Paths’ by William H. Gerdts landed on top. So begins my education on American Impressionists and the impact exterior gardens made on artists. The French Impressionists have long been my favorites and I’ve read and watched (on DVDs) about their personal lives as well as their painting ones. One influences the other.
Now I find myself going from the book to the internet to search out Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent and Celia Thaxter. The art of Winslow Homer wakens me. I knew only of his sea work. Philip Leslie Hale’s ‘The Crimson Rambler’ brings tender moments to my mind.
A thread appears linking me back to Bordentown. In Candace Wheeler’s group of creative geniuses pops up the names of the Century Gilders. This is the same Gilder family that lived on Crosswicks Street, the same family where each child was extremely talented in the arts, in writing and traveling including exploration.