"Community Garden New Years Day"

Glad to report my painting, "Community Garden New Years Day" was juried into the 2016 Wisconsin Biennial and was awarded 3rd place. When I selected the subject of the brussel-sprouts,  I was in the community garden looking around for my next subject.  The brussel-sprouts gave me an overwhelming sense of gratitude; they seemed to symbolize "abundance".   They seemed to signify that here on the very first day of the year,  all the people in the community were fed; there were leftovers, an abundance.     Well, I started the painting Jan.1 and by the end of the first session out, my paint was so stiff and the temperatures became bitter, I realized I was going to have to abandon the subject.   I went home and thought about it and then the next morning with my husbands help, we removed the plants (very smelly as they had warmed and thawed several times.. decay of vegetation...like a barn of gassy cows) and brought them to our back yard where we dug them into the snow and I continued the painting for the next 9 days.