Carol shares this story behind the painting, “I lived next door to a property that turned into a farm and brewery over the course of several years.  The first thing to happen was the planting of hops in an open, sunny meadow.  The structure of supports had to be constructed in a labor-intensive process as I watched the struggle to drive tall posts into the rocky ground.  The hops were planted next and over the the following few years they grew with increasing vigor.  This painting was conceived as part of a project called Journey of Plants in the Netherlands, and it was how plants have traveled around the world.  There is no better example that than hops!  So I went into their hops field, and from the millions I picked this particular grouping.  Hops are very fragrant and the flower cones are a bit sticky because of the pungent oils (lupulin) they contain.  Every time I look at this painting I smell the hops!”  Carol’s close observation of the leaves, vine and seed cones are explored throughout this cascading composition as hops are a climbing plant.  Drink it up!

Arrowood Farms Hops, 2018
watercolor on Kelmscott vellum
10.5 x 9 inches
$1,400