Capturing the beauty of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Kevin Patrick Keenan enjoys painting at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. (Graham Yelton)
One of an artist’s biggest challenges, Birmingham watercolorist Gail Cosby will tell you, can be deciding what to paint. So this past spring, when considering inspiring locations for fellow members of Alabama Plein Air Artists to spend a day drawing or painting in nature, Cosby turned to a vibrant subject she has walked and painted for 45 years.
“The nice thing about the Gardens is there is always something blooming here, and for an artist, that means great color,” she says of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. “When you’re doing a painting, a lot of artists look for masses of color, or they look for interesting structures like the torii (gate) at the entrance to the Japanese Garden. I’ve actually, in the past, painted the Lady Banks roses on the big arbor in the Dunn Formal Rose Garden. When they’re blooming, they’re just beautiful.”
With special permission from the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board to set up easels at the edge of garden paths, Cosby and 10 plein-air artists from around the state spent a glorious springtime Friday at the Gardens for the group’s April “paint-out.” Working in oil, pastel or watercolor, they spread out, choosing garden spaces that called to them.
“Plein-air artists look for pretty, colorful things, and the Gardens has lots of them,” Cosby says.
Birmingham watercolorist Gail Cosby was drawn to the colors and lights in the Ireland rose and iris gardens. (Graham Yelton)
Notable impressionists like Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir advocated working en plein-air, or painting outdoors. “I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers,” Monet once said. Wrote Renoir, “If you paint the leaf on a tree without using a model, your imagination will only supply you with a few leaves; but nature offers you millions, all on the same tree. No two leaves are exactly the same. The artist who paints only what is in his mind must very soon repeat himself.”
“And of course,” Cosby says, “Monet built a garden in Giverny, France, just to paint.”
Despite advances in photography, today’s plein-air artists continue to value the experience of painting from life because of the richness in color they are able to see and capture.
“The human eye can see extraordinary amounts of light and color,” Cosby says. “Even shadows have color – they’re blue, they’re black, they’re green, and they reflect color onto your subject. With a camera, you can’t always see those colors. If you look at the paintings of people who paint outdoors, they’re often more colorful than photography.”
The day before the April paint-out, Cosby scouted the Gardens to take photos of flowers in bloom and assembled a “Great Places To Paint” inspiration board for fellow artists. As participants spread throughout the Gardens to decide what to paint that Friday, she was drawn to the colors and light in the Ireland Old-Fashioned Rose Garden and the Ireland Iris Garden.
“Of course the subject doesn’t have to be gardens, but they’re lovely here, and it makes it easier when you have something beautiful to start with,” says Cosby, a longtime member of the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens. “Most artists recognize that the people who build gardens are artists, too – they simply use textures and land, and we appreciate all who do that.”
Toni Hackney
Resident of: Birmingham
Plein-air subject: Ireland Iris Garden gazebo
Artistic medium: Oils
What drew her to this spot: “I had taken photos of several areas of the Gardens. I was drawn to the gazebo as an entrance with the large agave plants on each side and purple irises in front leading into other greens and yellow in the background.”
What is special about painting en plein-air: “Painting plein-air is all of the above and getting a sense of place in your painting. It also forces you to paint more quickly to catch the light and shadows and give an impression of the scene.”
What she enjoys most about painting at the Gardens: “I love being in the Gardens, with beautiful plants, birds singing. It is also fun to see parents with their curious children.”
Kevin Patrick Keenan
Resident of: Huntsville
Plein-air subject: Torii (“gateway to heaven”) at entrance to Japanese Garden
Artistic medium: Pastels
What drew him to this spot: “I lived in Japan off and on for 22 years while in the Navy. I fell in love with the people and country. Seeing your Japanese Garden brings back fond memories of my time there.”
What is special about painting en plein-air: “I love being out in nature and trying to capture the beauty of the moment.”
What he enjoys most about painting at the Gardens: “With all the tall trees you have in your beautiful gardens, it gives the play of light and shadow everywhere. That is what I look for while I paint.”
Nancy Paden
Nancy Paden loves the beauty of nature that painting outdoors brings. (Graham Yelton)
Resident of: Wilsonville
Plein-air subject: Seven Virtues Waterfall in Japanese Garden
Artistic medium: Oils
What drew her to this spot: “The peaceful sound of the waterfall drew me in. I found the sound very relaxing and the beautiful irises alongside the strong boulders and moving water an immediate focal point.”
What is special about painting en plein-air: “Painting outdoors is by far the most rewarding and relaxing experience simply by being near the things I love most. The beauty of nature! I am primarily a studio painter working mainly in watercolor and acrylic. I use oil outdoors only due to health reasons and am enjoying the process of learning this new medium.”
What she enjoys most about painting at the Gardens: “I enjoy the peacefulness that the scene provides. I am new to plein-air painting and get tense when people watch me, so the sound helps me relax and enjoy the interaction with those who stop by.”
Debbie Wiggins
Resident of: Millbrook/Prattville
Debbie Wiggins can get lost in time painting at the Gardens. (Graham Yelton)
Plein-air subject: Irises in Japanese Garden
Artistic medium: Oils
What drew her to this spot: “My favorite flower is the iris, so I chose this beautiful location with purple irises blooming.”
What is special about painting en plein-air: “Painting plein-air inspires me to enjoy the beautiful world we live in and take care of it.”
What she enjoys most about painting at the Gardens: “I like talking with people as they stop by out of curiosity. Everyone is so friendly. I also love color, and being in nature allows me to relax and paint what my eyes innately focus on. It’s so gorgeous here – I can get lost in time.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2021 issue of The Garden Dirt, a publication of the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
