new york gardens

November’s Notebook of Flowers and Farewell to Fall!

November 28, 2014 by Lois |0 Comment

Notebook-Flowers-Cahiers-Nov2014 November’s here Today and Gone Tomorrow! And Gone all the Beauty of Fall whizzing by… My November “Notebook of Flowers” shows a Falling Leaf and bouquets of Ilex berries, Autumn Roses, Hydrangeas, Red Anemones and Tulips in Autumnal Rustic Reds, Browns and Oranges….

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a Fall Bouquet in the studio….

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a quick but large sketch of 22″ X 30″… showing a light touch…. inspired by all my Fall Travels!

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Fall’s cornucopias of gourds and pumpkins, and squashes and corn…..

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Bushels of Thanksgiving Bounty….

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Abound in landscaping everywhere as a last hurrah before winter!!!

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And especially the Chrysanthemums brought my eyes a feast of colors…

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Chrysanthemums caught my fancy this fall…. they were everywhere in beautiful big mounds!!

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and mounds!….

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and mounds!

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and mounds!!!

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and mounds! …..as Inspiration for my Notebook of Flowers pages!…..

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Grapes, pumpkins, chrysanthemums!

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Oranges and Purrples

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Purples and Oranges….

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Pots and pots and…..

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Pots of Chrysanthemums in the Plaza by the 5th Avenue Apple Store….

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An explosion of Mums wherever you go!

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overflowing in pots or …..

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in front of the Hampton LIbrary, Bridgehampton

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and in flower beds decorating NYC apartment buildings’ properties.

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They say that Chrysanthemums are the last flower of Autumn… They are right!

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My October Notebook of Flowers! Looking for Chrysanthemums everywhere, I found them also at

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The Rockefeller Estate, Kykuit, in Sleepy Hollow, a place I finally visited, featuring extraordinary views and

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a modern art collection including decorative glass sculpture by Tiffany, gorgeous “Mum” landscaping,

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A Rockefeller Garden in late Autumn, a Fall Finale to gardens everywhere until Spring!

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but not a goodbye to Fall Chrysanthemums!as they are my featured flower in

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my October Notebook of Flowers/ Cahiers de Fleurs……I decided to paint flower and nature studies and share them with you in a notebook journal style for purchase on Etsy…..Each month I will paint a few pages of art in journal style and create reproduction prints on watercolor paper (8.5″ x 11″) and send them to you…. Available by Single Months or as a 12-month Subscription. Choose a vertical single image or a double page spread format. Available now on Etsy. Original Art Watercolors will be available for sale soon on Etsy too.

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November features Autumn Bouquets! “Notebooks of Flowers” Watercolor Prints can make great gifts….thinking ahead to December! Savor the beauty of monthly watercolors of gardens, flowers and nature in “Notebooks of Flowers” from GardenSpiritsNY! Farewell to Fall and Greetings to “Notebooks of Flowers”!

Filed Under: Art, Floral Arrangements and watercolors, Thanksgiving and Fall Palettes, Watercolor Tagged With: Gardens, new york gardens, watercolor, watercolor and floral arangements

“Picturing Central Park”: Amazing Debut Show of Artist Janet Ruttenberg at the Museum of the City of NY

October 18, 2013 by Lois |0 Comment

Detail of Janet Ruttenberg's Painting

Janet Ruttenberg has a special vision of New York’s Central Park that is on view at the Museum of the City of New York at Fifth Ave and 101rd St. Does anyone see “L’Dejeuner sur L’herbe” by Manet here!? or “”Le Grande Jatte” by Seurat ? But it is pure contemporary Janet Ruttenberg….giving us her gift of these amazing creations of New York’s Central Park…. This is a must-see show for garden and art lovers… in fact, for everyone who loves parks and public spaces, and I hope that means everyone!

Janet Ruttenberg's Picturing Central Park

Her Fans, among them, George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company, helped this show become a reality…. Janet Ruttenberg, being dedicated to her work and process, did not seek to show her work throughout her lifetime. The art lovers of NYC made this happen. Her work is monumental in scale. Did I mention that she is 82 years old? Truly a tribute to her lifelong devotion to her creative pursuits. Hinting at Art History’s great iconic images of people in parks and gardens, her gatherings of humans and nature give art references that are submerged and re-emerge to the viewer’s delight….. “Gatherings” is a monograph book about her work and the exhibit by Pointed Leaf Press. Her rich color sensibility and draftsmanship and grand conceptualizations let you “Walk” into her reality of our Central Park’s great expanse of Sheep’s Meadow…..

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This is where I met Janet Ruttenberg a year ago working on a large watercolor she rolled out by a large tree… She, being at one with her subject,
gazed out and observed the glowing light on Sheep Meadow!

Janet Ruttenberg's Sheep's Meadow

And when you see her work, you will see this green expanse filled to the rim with masses of the people of NYC planted into this great lawn in a vision of humanity in harmony …. her unique vision of NY’s humanity in its paradise of Central Park…. and the paradise of art!