Sally Keller’s Jaffrey garden is bursting with green.
A bit wild – a sentiment she learned from her Irish horticulturalist grandfather, who never liked to see the soil -- it has some interesting views, including her wooden house with diamond-shaped windows and a whimsical tower, her octagon-shaped mosque in the corner of the garden and a small pond with a grouping of lily pads.
It’s a space that’s rife with inspiration for an artist, which is exactly the purpose it will serve Saturday, as one of the stops along the Jaffrey Civic Center’s Artists and Gardens Tour.
Civic Center Director Rebecca Frederickson said this is a first-year event for the center, and is a fundraiser for them. The tour includes seven garden sites in Jaffrey and Rindge.
The majority of sites will include artists who are on-site painting, with two that are only garden tours.
On Saturday, residents can explore some of Jaffrey’s and Rindge’s summer gardens, and meet artists who are inspired by them. Some gardens are owned by artists themselves – Keller has done over 40 illustrations of her house and garden, recently featured in a civic center show – and some local artists will be visiting the gardens to do plein air paintings of the vistas offered by the blooming gardens.
Plein air – French for “in the open air” – is when an artist paints outdoors, with the subject in full view, using natural light, color and movement.
Barbara Danser, a Jaffrey artist, will be one of the painters visiting Keller’s garden. An experienced plein air painter, Danser said she knows Keller’s house, having passed by it many times, and its interesting configuration caught her painter’s eye.
“It’s a charming place. It is most unique; there’s no other place quite like it. She has several buildings that are very different from anything else you’ll see around here,” Danser said.
That was by design, Keller said. She and her husband built the house in the 1970s, using wood from the oldest barn in Rindge and a carriage house in Winchendon. The surrounding gardens, she said, were planted to complement the house.
“They just evolved, and they look semi-wild,” Keller said.
And because the garden has been around as long as the house, it has evolved. Trees planted when the house were built are now full-grown, and a hedge row along the garden back has sprung up to 14 feet. The garden boasts antique roses and a ginkgo tree, which was nearly extinct at the time it was planted.
Another Jaffrey resident whose gardens will be on the tour is Brandie Sweetland. Sweetland has been in her current house for 16 years, and her plantings started as a side garden, but she said that over the years, they sprawled into a good portion of her back yard.
Sweetland said she already incorporates some of her own artwork into her garden. She often works with stained glass and makes mosaics, both of which have found a home in her garden.
Sweetland, who also paints with acrylics, said she’ll be doing some paintings of her garden on the day of the tour. Usually painting in her studio, from photographs, Sweetland said this will be an opportunity for her to challenge herself, by painting outside and all in one sitting, as most plein air paintings are done.
She said she’s still deciding on her potential subject.
Danser said for her, when she selects a subject for plein air painting, it’s about that single moment in time.
“I usually attach to something and go ahead and paint. It’s an emotional thing. It’s a connection with nature,” Danser said. “Before you get your painting materials out of the car, start walking around. You just make a decision.”
While plein air painting is about taking in a specific view, it’s not always strictly representative, Danser said. She often adds or selects only certain features in her paintings.
“It’s the painting that leaves that spot, and it’s the painting you have to hold onto. And it’s only in your heart and mind that you have the spot as it was,” Danser said. “It’s an experience.”
The Jaffrey Civic Center’s Artists and Gardens Tour is scheduled for Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tickets are $15 and are available on the civic center website, jaffreyciviccenter.com, or by calling 603-532-6527. The rain date for the event is July 16.
The tour will be followed by a wet paint sale and reception at the Jaffrey Civic Center at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Residents can view the freshly-painted works done during the tour and purchase them. The reception is free and open to all residents, not just those who purchase a ticket to attend the tour.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.