La Sente de Vernon

"La Sente de Vernon"

Sweet lavender....it comes and goes in my life.  Thirty years ago, I built two flower boxes and started some from seed.  It flourished in my garden for years and later at my parents'.  My father and I bonded over our love of lavender at a festival near his home one year, a sweet memory.

"La Sente de Vernon" was inspired by an incident many years ago when I visited Monet's gardens at Giverny.  It wasn't actually the memory of the garden, but the hike to the garden that inspired it.  We had been camping on the other shore of the Seine in a town called Vernon.  It was a beautiful, hot August day and we decided to walk the distance to the garden, setting out early.  We stopped for the (obligate) espresso in a cafe/bar and were advised of a footpath that followed an old railroad line.  What an amazing path it turned out to be!  It traveled through a forest littered with amazing fossils, whole animal skeletons could be seen embedded in rock faces cut through by the railroad.  It traveled through meadows of wildflowers blooming in Monet's palette as far as one could see.  It traveled through a row of country homes.  There, an elderly gentleman worked grooming his garden.  He gathered his lavender and when I passed he smiled and offered me a bouquet.  I held it close and smelled the sweet smell over and over that day and later pressed it in my journal.  What a wonderful stroll.....and what a wonderful memory this challenge has recovered!

"La Sente de Vernon" is the actual name of part of the footpath....and speaking of which - for those non-French speakers (like myself, who had to look it up), "Sente" means footpath.  Although, in this context it could have been "The Scent of Vernon" :)









My piece is created with painted silk organza, raw-edge appliqué with fusible web. Wool felt was used for the bat and was a dream to work with!