HPSO Gen(i)us Program featuring Lorene Edwards Forkner
"Seeing Color in the Garden"

Color is both a gratuitous gift and one of nature’s most sophisticated tools, engineered to capture the attention of all living creatures. While the lure of color is universal, our response to it is personal and emotionally evocative.   In a word: powerful.

The backstory from Lorene Edwards Forkner:
This project began in April 2018 when I joined an online creativity challenge. For 100 days I plucked a plant from my garden and tried to capture and record its colors in simple swatches of watercolor. This wasn’t botanical illustration—far from it. This was an exercise in concentration and seeing what was right in front of me.

Now, nearly 3 years later, I’m still going. “Seeing Color in the Garden” has become my daily practice; a meditative exercise that quiets my mind even on days when my clumsy attempts frustrate me and fall short of depicting what nature does so elegantly.

Naturally, the garden is the center of my practice because it is the lens through which I view the world. I am a gardener.

Constantly foraging for color has taught me to be mindful of and accept my own cycles of attention. Some days flow with a colorful chime. Others produce nothing but noise and a tiresome repetition that just about does me in. Usually, the doing of it is enough. And there’s always tomorrow... and the day after, and the one after that.

Though not necessarily any easier, my practice has become second nature—a virtuous cycle that helps me cultivate awareness.
How we direct our attention matters.

Registration is now open: 2021 Genius: Seeing Color in the Garden

This is a Zoom presentation.  Price is $5 for members; $10 for non-members