Magic Garden... without the Prozac...

This one is a commission from Leon and Steph for their friends Sean and Laura on their wedding. Steph told me that Sean is a guitarist and an "audio geek" and Laura is a horticulturalist who loves gardening. Maybe a "plant-guitar hybrid" she first suggested.
Later Leon had a full plan for me. They wanted a magic garden of music.

My first thought was over-the-top psychedelic color drenched Prozac happy garden. ...but after talking more with Leon, I realized a less drug induced scene would suit the couple better.

Leon specifically asked for music notes. This is tough. It's hard to mix something even kind of realistic with graphic elements. This usually feels awkward... or like advertising. So, I tried to sneak the notes in as if they were physical entities in this garden. I thought of them as being like birds.

Originally, I also put a I put some G-Clef bugs on the red flowers in front. I painted them yellow and black like bees. I thought this was a cute. I showed this to Beth and she couldn't figure out what they were. They were so tiny. I covered them up and decided, once again, that some things just sound like a good idea...

In Other News:
Here is a link to the Haiku Bandit Society blog where someone wrote a haiku inspired by my fiddlehead fern painting. (You have to scroll down to the March 31 entry to read it.) This marks two haikus this year that have been written inspired by my work here. How many people can boast that? ....really... ... ?

Anyway:
Many thanks to Leon and Steph and many years to Laura and Sean!