I am so excited to write this post!! Even though we received this commissioned piece of art in August, I finally found the time that I wanted to devote to this post.
Personally, I struggle with artwork for the walls. Anyone else?!? We have family pictures throughout the house but we also want “art” on the walls. Not art that belongs in a museum but art that means something to us.
This particular wall has laid bare ever since the kitchen renovation was complete. Then it hit me, as I stood at the window looking outside. I wanted an abstract painting of our backyard. At that particular time, the grass was so beautifully green, the sky was a gorgeous blue and I was taking in so many moments that are special to our family. The boat – all of our wonderful adventures to Shark Tooth Island, cruising to dinner by boat and tubing with friends. The pier – Peter and the kids fishing, the kids new love of running and jumping off the pier into to water (for HOURS) and at that particular time, my vision of dinner on the pier. And even the Adirondack chairs – made here locally by the Amish, where we enjoy smores and a few nights of drinking wine out there and deep conversations.
My next thought was “by who”. Something so special to us, I wanted it done by someone I knew would capture it with the heart that I envisioned it with. Then it hit me, a friend of mine, Carrie Patterson. She is a local artist that opened her own art studio in the heart of Leonardtown. It was formally under the name of Yellow Door Studio and we actually celebrated Chandler’s 2nd birthday there and the kids have taken countless art classes and camps there. Currently Carrie owns the Carrie Patterson Drawing and Paint Studio and is a Professor of Art at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (my alma mater!!) Her studio has so much to offer, if you are local, you should really check it out. She currently has holiday specials for the Spring schedule…see it here.
Carrie is an abstract painter but she also does landscape and often, St. Mary’s County is her source material. She was so excited to collaborate on this project and truly accomplished exactly what we wanted. She could tell I was a bit nervous about the abstract element. I am definitely a traditional decor with TINY pops of modern/contemporary type of gal. She included 3 8×10’s of different levels of abstraction to see which I preferred. WOW, right!!
Peter liked the bottom one best…he said it looked very Monet-esque. I liked the middle one best, so Carrie combined the 2!!
Then she delivered our vision!! We met her at her studio and we just could not be happier. The colors, the details we discussed…all of it.
Feel free to contact Carrie if you are interested in a commissioned piece. I cannot recommend her enough!!
Very lovely! The colors are gorgeous.