Leslie Clark: Guardians of the gardens

Ojai Studio artists were graciously invited by the Taft family to tour and paint Taft gardens this spring. As I wandered, the flowers were bursting with color, delicate and demanding attention, but always in the background, staunch and vertical, like guardians, were the aloes. I saw them as protective or brooding and decided to try three different techniques to portray their character. There will be many more to come...