“A view in Exbury gardens.”
Exbury gardens is a famous garden in England, situated in Hampshire, east of Beaulieu, in the village of Exbury. It belongs to a branch of the Rothschild family. It has around 200 acres and contains a very large collection of azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias. In the north east of the garden, there is the 12 ¼ in gauge Exbury Steam Railway.
Being a bank holiday weekend with great weather on the forecast we decided to visit Exbury gardens, with some friend of ours. The weather was indeed fabulous, clear sky with no clouds, no wind and very warm (around 23 Celsius). We had a little walk around the garden, trying to decide what to paint (tough decision to make in such a beautiful place). We stopped in the end to paint this lovely view, with an alley and a pale yellow rhododendron on a side.
I used a reduced palette, having three blues, two yellows, a red, white and some browns. I painted it alla prima over about three hours. I haven’t used any medium, just some turps.
All in all a superb day, discovering new places in New Forest national park, thanks to Pete who knows the park a lot better than me.
So, here it is:
“A view in Exbury gardens.”
Oil on linen.
30 X 40cm (12” X 16”)
