Celebrated plein air artist Dorothy Fagan of Mathews is scheduled to be demonstrating her art on the grounds of Weston Hall, one of four Garden Tour stops, on Saturday.
Her vibrant garden landscapes are large and bursting with color and represent “Joy’s Garden,” which she terms her “gift of healing art for America.”
For example, in a painting called “Dream’d a Wish,” Fagan said she prayed for peace with each stroke of her paintbrush.Fagan said she began praying with color in private gardens as her mother battled brain cancer three decades ago. She described her approach as imagining her canvas as a mirror, balancing emotional colors—warm and cool, light and dark, creating harmony in her own body of reflections—as she transforms “trauma and loss into healing art for a world in need.”
She tells her method: “I draw imagery from memories, dreams, and snippets of day-to-day life—translating sparks of the Creator’s Light into thick strokes of paint. Quietly I begin receiving delicate veils o...