Description
Framed Abstract Garden Painting
My Father’s House is a framed abstract garden painting that I painted intuitively from imagination, with forms and layers of color.
Garden pots get dirty, beat up, piled together, and tucked behind the shed. They are utilitarian objects, but over time they become something more ~ old friends, treasures, and partners in the garden.
In this painting, I wanted those familiar objects to carry the comfort and joy of living with things we have collected and cared for in the garden.
Building Light in My Father’s House Through Color
I build light in My Father’s House through color relationships rather than traditional light and shadow.
Warm and cool shifts occur within the same color families. Darker chromatic passages give brighter colors something to illuminate against. Transparent and opaque layers allow earlier color to remain active beneath the surface.
The result is the kind of luminosity I return to throughout my work. I produce light that feels as though it originates from within the painting.
Vessels, Grasses, and Abundant Growth
The vessels provide structure. The grasses cross in front of pots, marks overlap one another, and growth reaches outward and upward.
The large blue vessel anchors the composition while the smaller aqua pot comes forward with its own decorative marks and personality. Around these, greens accumulate and mauve and violet grasses extend through the garden. There is balance between substantial forms and wild nature.
I like that the garden feels a little wild. The abundance and life energy is beautiful.
More Than a Garden Painting
My Father’s House is part of Fresh Air, a series of ten original paintings created in Spring 2026 after my move from New Hampshire to Maine.
Following an intensive artist residency, I returned to painting without an assignment or predetermined body of work. Fresh Air grew from that freedom ~ a new home, a new season, and the opportunity to respond to whatever arrived in my heart.
The title My Father’s House reaches beyond the physical garden. The pots, grasses, changing seasons, color, light, and even the privilege of noticing them are part of God’s wonderful creation.
Life is full of grand moments that are easy to appreciate, but the everyday things fill our lives and often go uncounted. My Father’s House is about noticing those things while they are here ~ and finding gratitude, comfort, and joy.
A Framed Abstract Garden Painting for Lived-In Spaces
At 30 × 40 inches, My Father’s House brings color and presence to a room while remaining comfortable in the scale of everyday living.
Turquoise and blue bring expansiveness, deep greens provide grounding, and touches of mauve, violet, yellow-green, and warmer earth tones offer connections to color already present in a home. The black wood frame gives the expressive surface a clean boundary and makes the painting ready to hang.
I imagine this framed abstract garden painting living especially well in spaces that are gathered rather than overly arranged ~ rooms with books, plants, collected objects, garden views, and the evidence of a life being lived.
Painting Details and Shipping
My Father’s House is an original 2026 acrylic mixed media painting on canvas by Melissa Lea. The painting measures 30×40 inches in horizontal orientation, is framed in a thin black gallery frame, and arrives ready to hang. This is a one-of-one original artwork.
I deliver regionally, in person, at no additional charge. We can also arrange pick up. Shipping is available at cost. Please contact me before purchase with any questions about delivery, shipping, or placement.
View a studio video of My Father’s House in YouTube: HERE
View available works in the Fresh Air series: HERE
