Excerpt from “A Painter’s Garden” book
Introduction
A letter to a friend has grown into this gift of images and words—a present wrapped with the insights and encouragement my garden has given me. On opening, it reveals the joys of living a creative life and coming to terms with one’s gifts and limitations.
Many years ago, I imagined a place surrounded by nature to grow a family and do creative work, hoping to fulfill that dream within five years. It has taken eighteen. As I write this, I am living the life I visualized as an artist, a mother, and a partner to a wonderful man. We live and work at home in the country. A friend’s off hand comment led me to reflect on how I found my way to this place. On the phone one day, Amy said to me, “You’re living your dream! How did you make that happen?” Her words settled into me and nudged out questions: What is it that sets one on a creative path and keeps one pushing forward in spite of entanglements? What steps must we take to fulfill the promise of our intentions? In other words, how do we make our dreams come true?
It’s not enough to dream, although it is necessary to have a clear vision. Parents and teachers praise hard work, but many of the wise advocate effortlessness. Faith ranks high, but one’s faith is always tested. Good luck counts, but not without the bad, because that often heralds good fortune. Talent, knowledge, and skill in one’s chosen field are required, but naivete and an openness to learning sometimes bring profound insights and a wealth of good ideas. Regardless of the paths we take, getting “there” never ends up being exactly where we think it is going to be. Creativity is not a simple step-by-step process, but a cycle. Much like plants need the seasons, we need to establish and feel creative rhythms that let us root and flourish, lie fallow, and bloom again. Whether making paintings, writing songs, or growing a business, it is the creative life that is being formed, not just the products of our hands and minds.
I began cultivating a garden to have a subject for my paintings. Now the garden more than inspires my art; it offers me, daily, a way to grow and change. One afternoon, while shoveling turkey manure, I realized how much the act of gardening is a metaphor for the creative process. As a gardener, one is always learning from nature, the great teacher, who says it’s okay to be out of control, a little confused, a tireless worker, and a reflective spirit. In the garden, one may make mistakes and not be too oriented toward results. However, for the garden to flourish, tasks must be tended to every day or so throughout every season, and we must notice what’s going on. We may have ideas about how we want our garden to be, but it tells us quite clearly how it intends to grow. In nature’s hands and our own, matter is changed from seed to plant, compost to flower and fruit. Gardeners have faith in transformation, in return for which we receive the gift of seeing a little more today than we did yesterday.
As I continue on the journey reflected upon in this book, becoming a more accomplished artist and learning each day the joys and perils of an interior life expressed through an artistic form, I thank the garden for the way it nourishes my art and renews my spirit. I hope the following essays and journal excerpts offer you companionship as you travel your creative path. And, as much as possible, I wish all of us bountiful gardens to contemplate in solitude and celebrate in friendship with one another.
A Painter's Garden 
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