Climbing the Wall

I teach Watercolor & Oil Painting at Mesa Community College, which is home to the MCC Rose Garden. It is one of the top test gardens in the country with 9000-10,000 roses. We are so lucky to have this on our campus! Every semester I take my students out to experience plein air painting in this Rose Garden. Over the years I've taken hundreds of photos. This painting is done from a photo of the climbing roses, in a part of the garden which is often overlooked. I was attracted to the shadow patterns on the wall from the afternoon sun. In this painting, I was trying to channel the French Impressionists for color and brushstroke.