Joyous Garden 

Editor: This is "Joyous Garden," an oil painting by Benjamin Brown, and looking at this piece I can almost smell the flowers! I find myself immersed in such a calming summer day. What's your read on this scene? Curator: Ah, yes, a visual poem of light and leisure! You immediately grasp the emotive core of Brown's piece – that vibrant "joy." Look at how he dances with the oil-paint! Loose brushstrokes capture not just the forms, but the very *feeling* of a garden bathed in sunshine. Do you see how the color almost vibrates? Editor: Definitely, there's a certain shimmer, and the colors aren’t blended so much as layered. Is that typical for plein-air paintings? Curator: Precisely! Painting *en plein air,* or outdoors, was about capturing a fleeting moment. Think of the Impressionists chasing the sunset. Brown aims for that freshness. The visible brushstrokes create a sense of immediacy and allow light to both penetrate and reflect in a way a flat surface simply could not. Almost makes you want to grab a picnic basket, doesn't it? What do you suppose he left out? Editor: Mmm, the flowers do look lovely. I think that most figures seem absent here, so our attention remains on the scenery. Curator: Good eye! A world without people, just pure, unadulterated nature…almost utopian! What story would *you* whisper to someone standing in front of it? Editor: I'd say let the colors wash over you, let the busyness fade...that this painting is an invitation for stillness. Curator: I like that – a pause in the garden of the mind! I might add, allow yourself to feel that impossible urge to reach out and pick just one of those impossible blossoms... Editor: Yes! This really feels like a warm embrace after a long day. Thanks for showing me how to pause and breathe it all in.