I’ve painted a number of non-traditional gardens in Italy. Pots hugging walls on the sidewalk. Pots filling the tiniest of balconies. Pots rigged in makeshift window boxes. As lawn spaces are hard to come by in Italian towns and cities, a personal garden can be created anywhere by applying a little Italian ingenuity!

We’re all used to seeing these charming scenes on calendars and in YouTube videos (or in Marion Younan paintings!), especially the summer versions where the blooms and greenery crowd the narrow stone streets of historical centers. For my latest paintings of this subject, I captured two Venice windows adorned with a variety of plants that were long-past their picturesque summer blossoms.

Even without the flowers, I’d always look up at these windows as I’d walk past last October on my way to the grocery store. The effect of the healthy greenery seemingly pouring out from the shabby shutters and decaying exterior of the building was eye-catching from the street below – the harmony of old life and new life. And going back to Italian ingenuity, I’d also wonder how so many pots and plants could safely sit in these windows without falling. Perhaps in a strong Adriatic wind they don’t, so I’d make sure to keep a safe distance!

As these windows always made me smile, I stopped to take their photo on one of my last Venetian walks. Seven months later, I came across the photos and I knew this was what I next needed to paint.

Since I had returned from Italy, all my time had been consumed by selling and purchasing a home. In the end, we somewhat apprehensively bought an unrenovated older home with a very overgrown garden – where there would be a big challenge to bring harmony to the old and the new! Was I really up for it?

Painting these two miniatures was very helpful in calming my apprehension about taking on this challenge – reinforcing that new growth and beauty are always possible in the presence of the old.

Only one original of each available here.