Wednesday, July 14, 2010
"Bike in the Butterfly Garden, Greenwich Point" 24" x 36" o/c
I've been visiting my home town in Connecticut, where I grew up and lived until 1990. Now, I return here in the summer with my sons to visit the grandparents, and family. It's a great opportunity for me to paint landscapes I don't usually see in California.
This painting is of the Butterfly Garden at Tod's Point, in Old Greenwich, CT. The history of the property here is that all of this area was owned by the Tod family. The town of Greenwich purchased the property in 1945 and created what exists today as a 147-acre multi-use park, locally know as "Tod's", "The Beach", or "Greenwich Point". Greenwich Point offers a variety of both active and passive recreational areas, natural areas, conservation areas, and gardens and groves. The Tod family sprawling home is no longer there, but the stone walls that cascaded down to Long Island Sound still remain. Amongst the steps and walls facing out to the sea, the Old Greenwich Garden Club have planted and maintained a butterfly garden. The bike I am painting is an old Columbia from the 60's. The painting will be for sale in Old Greenwich when it is finished. I plan to leave it here with my family to sell, hoping someone local will purchase it due to the local image depicted.