Gazebo Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC. 2002
Water colour on paper
The two paintings done at Butchart Gardens in Victoria (see also Hidden Buildings) represent a departure in form for Anna, and along with the Emily Carr painting, one can see much greater attention to detail and much brighter colours. Whereas the barns and other solitary buildings painted in Ontario earlier in her life seem rather foreboding and at times even gloomy, the Victoria paintings are much more full of colour and in tone come across as much happier pieces. Still some of the tell tale signs are there, such as the relationship between architecture and nature; or aren’t there, if you like, for there are still no human inhabitants to her paintings, but here we see, as we might expect, flowers. Thousands of them. To capture so many individual flowers would be daunting for any artist. That Anna has done it without having the use of her hands is nothing short of inspirational.
In Anna’s words:
“This painting took a long time. It’s very picky work creating all these little flowers. I love these gardens though and this is one of my favourite paintings. God’s creation everywhere! It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to paint a picture or create a garden, if the Creator doesn’t help you, then you’ve got nothing!”