Leslie Landers

Each time I find myself in the Italian Garden of Villa Montalvo I overhear a conversation about a wedding. A wedding being planned. A wedding remembered. In any case, it’s a fitting conversation at the Temple of Love.

I painted this to the sounds of the river rushing past in the late afternoon light. I didn’t see any activity at the cabin while I was there but it sure seemed to be an inviting spot.

In this piece, I’m trying to catch the way my neighbor’s wicker chairs glow in the late afternoon light. Looking at the painting, the chairs with their comfy pillows seem to be in conversation and offer an invitation.

The sunken garden area at Filoli in Woodside has been converted to feature succulent plants and cacti and they’ve pulled it together beautifully. It was fun painting the opuntia (prickly pear). The pink flowers are calandrinia. I scratched their stems in rather than painting them which seems to work well in this context. This painting won second place as part of the Coastal Arts League annual painting show in Half Moon Bay.

So much visual variety it was hard to choose what to focus on and very fun to paint.

I don’t remember seeing as many snowy white egrets in our area as I was growing up. While they are now quite common, I am always struck by their elegant movement.

I painted this on location and tried to catch the interplay of the eucalyptus trees with the reservoir beyond.