We just returned from an amazing and arduous trip to England and France. This was my first visit to England and I wanted to see everything! Despite being jet lagged, we headed to London’s Chelsea neighborhood to see the world-famous Royal Horticultural Society’s annual Chelsea Flower Show. Tickets sell out fast, so I had booked them well in advance. By the end of the visit I could hardly walk, but we stayed till they closed for the day and still didn’t see it all. Of course, every 10 feet I found something I wanted to make a photograph of. For me the raw image is a starting point. Not only do I have all the usual decisions about cropping and lighting, but because it was a crowded show with lots of labels on the plants, I needed to remove the extraneous items. And then sometimes I paint the photo, moving elements, repeating elements, changing colors to make my own color schemes. I write this so that you will know that these are not journalistic but rather painterly in nature. I begin with the beautiful Chelsea neighborhood. This post is dedicated to my mother who loved flower gardens and passed away twenty years ago today.
