After an especially difficult period in her life, Seattle gardener, author, and artist Lorene Edwards Forkner began a daily, meditative practice. She would pick something from her garden and using watercolors, paint a 3×3 pattern of distinct color squares, trying to capture each of the colors she saw in the subject.
One of the earliest examples was a balm for grief after the death of her father. The source was a sprig of flowers from Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’. Six of the colors were various shades of pink to capture the subtle shadings of the flowers. Two of the swatches were in greens to represent the leaves, the final in brown for the stem.
A collection of the resulting small paintings from this praxis is found in Forkner’s book, “Color In and Out of the Garden.” The purpose of publishing such a book? “In sharing the following collection of color studies and observations, my rainbow playground, I hope to open your eyes and deepen your compassion for beauty in the natural world.”
Each painting is overlaid with the garden subject from which they are drawn. On the opposite page is an essay that may expound on the featured plant or color, recall a recipe, or evoke an historical reflection.
Each chapter introduces a spoke of the color wheel with a selection of synonyms or terms that are near matches. For example, different shades of red might be described as scarlet or cerise, while shades of green include sage, olive, and celadon. You can have a lot of fun adding to the list, and I think that would please the author.
Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on August 22, 2023.
Excerpted from the Fall 2023 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin