Collage of Curiosities No. 2

Butterfly and bees on lavender at Monticello

The woods whizzed by. The dark depths holding tightly to more secrets than I’ll ever know. Cruise control set, I slipped effortlessly northward as I drank in as many snapshots of wildflowers and shadowy edges as my eyes would safely allow. There’s nothing like a summer road trip. The blaring sun bouncing off dried grasses being whipped around by passing motorists gives rise to bittersweet nostalgia. As though in a dream, I’m instantly transported back to our blue Suburban, my sisters and I packed in the velour back seat, my mom at the helm.

One summer, we drove up the East Coast, from Virginia Beach to the family summer cottage in Cape Cod. Just us girls. Mom said she wanted to show us that we didn’t need a man around to go out and do big things. Now, I think she gave us the gift of freedom and I relish a road trip. I’m free and on my own schedule. I can travel at my own pace, and go as far as I desire.

This most recent trip took me seventeen hours up to Pennsylvania to visit my youngest sister and some of my dearest art friends. While the trip was chock-full of activity, it also offered me the space to breathe in inspiration. I traversed several forests, traveled to New York City, and even attended a locally legendary horse show. As I write this, I’m still swimming in the surreal afterglow of my adventure.

Scroll below to get a taste of my trip and many additional images that didn’t fit into my collage. There were too many beautiful moments not to share!

Havertown, Pennsylvania

Home to my youngest sister and her husband. I explored the local woods, attended the nearby Devon Horse Show, walked the Haverford Heritage Festival, and ogled some of the incredible historic homes of the Main Line area.

Weathered old leather book spines with gilt embossing

path leading through shady spring woodland

West Chester, Pennsylvania

Here I stayed with my friend Sarah at her new-old home, Willow Springs, nestled in the Pennsylvania woods. We spoke of art and nature, our mutual loves, and took walks with her dog Tallie along shady trails under an unending cathedral of statuesque trees. The light filtering through the trees glowed like green stained glass and cast a spell that swept me back to the woodlands of my childhood. While I’d never stayed with Sarah before, I was overcome with a feeling of familiarity and comfort that was like coming home.

A single dandelion seedhead against a dark background and ground elder flower heads.

An old spring house in the shadows with flea bane flowers

A clearing in a Pennsylvania woodland with golden light streaming through the trees and ground elder flowers in the foreground

golden light filtering through trees onto an old springhouse flanked by Fleabane and Spiderwort flowers

Spring woodland in Chester county Pennsylvania illuminated by a glowing green light through the trees

Close up of white umbel Ground Elder flowers and ostrich ferns set in deep shade

Chocolate brown dog with red collar in crystalline river

cracking plaster wall illuminated in orange glowing sunlight covered with ivy and grapevine

Warwick Furnace Farm

I’d long wanted to visit Warwick Furnace Farm, a family-run lavender farm in rural Chester County Pennsylvania, and meet Claire Rosen, its visionary and a fellow artist. What first struck me when Sarah and I drove up to the farm in the late afternoon was the stillness. It felt like the surrounding hills oozed the lavender-tinged haze that filled up the valley as evening approached and dampened all sound other than my breathing. This is the kind of place that reassures you that magic does exist in the real world, you just have to seek it out, or create it for yourself, a combination of which I think Claire and her family have done with the farm. Standing atop the lavender fields, the weight of the woods behind me, it was as though the glow emanating from the pores of the land melted into me and I too was momentarily a part of its being.

landscape view of formal English style garden in Pennsylvania with woods in the background. The planting includes boxwoods, roses, and delphiniums and there is a white ornate iron bench in the distance — The formal garden with blooming Delphiniums and roses.

Curving rows of Lavender plants with a hill in the background. The late afternoon sky is a similar glowing purple. — The Lavender Maze overlooking the fields and the adjacent hilltop.

Formal English style garden with the distant view of woodland covered hills and meadows. The symmetrical planting includes roses and boxwoods around stone pathways. Two stone urns sit in a mass of delicate white flowers. and pink flowers. — The formal garden.

Monticello.

To begin my journey home, I headed south to Virginia to tour the grounds of Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello. Set on a mountaintop, the grounds boast an austerity, and yet, at the same time, seemed to take themselves far less seriously than I’d expected. The garden planting was relatively informal, except for the neat rows of vegetables, and most of the grass was left as meadow. I was curious if this was always the practice or if it was more recently adopted to ease maintenance and encourage wildlife. Either way, I drifted around soaking in the views and marveling at the natural beauty.

Wild meadow planting against a dark backdrop with a bumblebee

A wooden garden support with pink and purple delphiniums and oriental poppies spilling onto a pea gravel path

Orange Butterflies on yellow flowers with pink bachelors buttons in the foreground

A white clapboard building sitting on a hill with Tiger lilies in the foreground and wooden edged vegetable gardens at the base overlooking an expansive hazy view

A lemon in tree in a terra cotta pot in the light of a multi-paned glass window

Close up image of silvery Artichoke plants in Monticello's. vegetable garden

A mass planting of dill with it's yellow flowers in bloom against a formal brick garden structure and rustic wooden trellis. A neighboring hilltop rises in the distance. — A mass of dill in the vegetable gardens overlooking the neighboring mountaintop.

Afton, Virginia

I’m a solitary person by nature. After a trip filled with soaking up family and friends, I felt I was due for a bit of quiet before journeying home. I found myself a cottage just a few miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway that fit the bill. Surrounded by woods, the home offered the kind of monastic seclusion I was in search of. I only stayed for two nights but I became well acquainted with the wildlife and spent time sketching the towering trees with a glass of wine in tow. I saw deer, rabbits, ravens, cardinals, squirrels galore, and even a tiny shrew. I sat in silence and contemplation much of the time, listening to the sounds of the woods and staring into its verdant depths watching the light change throughout the day. I think Thoreau would have approved.

Sunlight streaming in through open paned window onto a rust colored bedspread with a view of a morning woodland.

Blue shingled house with cedar roof shingles and grassy meadow leading right up to its facade.

View of wild Spring planting through a paned glass window.

Glass of white wine on the corner of a wooden deck railing overlooking a mountain forest

Sketchbook opened to pages of brown watercolor tree studies

Want the latest Collage of Curiosities delivered to your inbox?

Join my inner circle to receive all the studio updates.

get access here

More inspiration

Kara Ffield BrownJune 19, 2023Comment