Sunflowers

"Jeff's Sunflower"
North Danville, VT

At my recent Open Studio I sold one of a series of sunflowers, but failed to take a photo of the picture so I can't show you the piece that a friend purchased. Jeff is my oldest son and he moved back to Vermont in 1999. He reconnected with his agrarian roots, and though he sells businesses for a living, most recently a supermarket to people who have a small chain of them, his personal time is spent farming. At his own home, he and Beth grow a large garden, keep chickens, have horses for the girls, a couple birds, and some cats. Jeff also helps at the Paquet family farm, and especially enjoys working the fields, just like his dad did. One year Jeff planted the most wonderful sunflowers in his garden, something I associate more with Kansas than Vermont. I was inspired to paint several pictures of them. This one I gifted to Jeff.

Today we prepare to head to the Great Western Bike Rally. Some years we've ridden the coastal route on our touring bicycles, but that takes three days, which we don't have at the moment. So we will be taking the Amtrak Coast Starlight down and back. We camp with our bike club at the rally and do lots of rides in very beautiful wine country in Paso Robles. More inspiration for the art! I will be taking an art travel kit.