FOXGLOVES REACHING FOR THE SKY
ACRYLICS ON CEDAR W/RED OAK FRAME
SUMMER 2021

     To us, blooming foxgloves have been a sure sign of summer for many years.  While living on the Olympic Peninsula, we would see “fields” of foxgloves forming beautiful gardens and disguising the less-than-beautiful clear cuts in which they were growing.  Lately many foxgloves have seeded themselves in our garden, and they are a welcome sight.  It’s amazing how tall some of them can get, and several this year have inspired both this painting and its title.  I added a tiger swallowtail and a background of miscanthus grass to complete the design.  The artistic inspiration for this work owes much to the Japanese Rinpa School and Ogata Kenzan’s Hollyhocks was very influential in creating my painting.  I made the frame out of red oak using pegged, hand-joined, mortise-and-tenon construction methods.   I used the Japanese technique (shou-sugi-ban) of charring and oiling the oak to finish the frame.
 
DIMENSIONS:   HEIGHT:  23 7/8 inches
                           WIDTH:  15 inches
 
                                                         PRICE $525

Ogata Kenzan Hollyhocks

Gary Giovane
La Conner, WA
gioart13@yahoo.com