Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Flower Blooms: My Journey in a Landscape of Art
    A Flower Blooms: My Journey in a Landscape of Art
    A Flower Blooms: My Journey in a Landscape of Art
    Ebook152 pages1 hour

    A Flower Blooms: My Journey in a Landscape of Art

    By JoEl Vogt

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    What is the good life? JoEl Vogt has been exploring that question ever since her first childhood discoveries of seemingly vast, untamed land stirred a longing for a wild sanctuary of her own. In this memoir, the painter, art therapist, and grandmother traces her lifelong relationship with nature and her passion for landscape painting. She has contemplated the good life, defined it for herself, and manifested her dream of deep immersion in wildlife and art. Together with her husband, local friends, and a few lively chickens, JoEl has created an artist’s haven and home deep in the Missouri Ozarks, where she paints the colorful land and sky.
    “The land is like a canvas—not blank, but full of possibilities. New discoveries inspire new ways to connect with the land. The quiet, unhurried pace of living allows time to follow my whims and fantasies. Being here has changed me. The peace of quiet, rainy days, the stirred-up electricity in the air during storms, and the clarity and joy of sunny, cool days, have woven into the fiber of my psyche. In the country, I’m a much more enlivened version of my normal self.”
    This book is filled with her beautiful paintings of this magical place, as well as insights for defining and pursuing your own dreams. JoEl’s journey shows that the path to fruition is worthwhile—even when it winds through heartbreak, loneliness, several unruly groundhogs, and an indomitable population of ticks.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJoEl Vogt
    Release dateMar 23, 2018
    A Flower Blooms: My Journey in a Landscape of Art

    Related to A Flower Blooms

    Related ebooks

    Art For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Angela Harding

      Dec 24, 2021

      Angela Harding
      5 min read

    • Article

      Let Loose

      Mar 19, 2021

      Let Loose
      4 min read

    • Article

      Always Learning

      Oct 19, 2021

      Always Learning
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Opposite of Negativity

      Jan 13, 2023

      The Opposite of Negativity
      3 min read

    • Article

      An Indirect Self Portrait

      Apr 29, 2021

      An Indirect Self Portrait
      2 min read

    • Article

      River Deep, Mountain High

      Jun 9, 2023

      River Deep, Mountain High
      4 min read

    • Article

      Sarah Graham

      Apr 14, 2022

      Sarah Graham
      4 min read

    • Article

      Salty Seaside Lobster

      Jul 7, 2023

      Salty Seaside Lobster
      3 min read

    • Article

      Cultural Artifacts

      Jul 29, 2021

      Cultural Artifacts
      3 min read

    • Article

      Artist’s Hints & Tips

      Feb 10, 2022

      • I buy my canvas by the roll and cut it to size, and for large paintings I use stretched canvas. My cut canvas is taped to a board for painting. To frame, I either glue it to a primed MDF board or tape it as in a watercolour sheet to a backing board

      1 min read

    • Article

      From The Drawing Board

      Feb 10, 2022

      Hi Brett, Just to let you know I have been inspired by your magazine “Drawing with Brett A. Jones”, I haven’t done any drawing for years but now I am retired I have more time on my hands, great. So I am back into it, with all your very useful tips my

      6 min read

    • Article

      Themed Sketchbooks

      Jul 14, 2022

      It is very rewarding to make your own themed sketchbook. It makes the sketches from a particular place even more memorable and enjoyable. The examples in this article are from Fiji and Bali and the sketchbooks reflect this quite clearly. It is surpri

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Importance Of A Light Source

      Feb 8, 2018

      The Importance Of A Light Source
      2 min read

    • Article

      My Art Journey

      Nov 29, 2019

      My Art Journey
      5 min read

    • Article

      Hockney: The Early Years

      Oct 27, 2023

      Hockney: The Early Years
      3 min read

    • Article

      Artist’s Hints & Tips

      Feb 10, 2022

      • Before starting, try to identify what you love to paint, and then pick up your pencil and paintbrush. • Looking through old photos, magazine or searching the internet helps me to get into the zone and get my creative juices flowing. • If you are an

      1 min read

    • Article

      Welcome

      Jun 11, 2021

      Welcome
      1 min read

    • Article

      Ella in Maoriland

      Nov 10, 2022

      Ella in Maoriland
      9 min read

    • Article

      Kirsten Britt

      Jun 11, 2021

      Kirsten Britt
      6 min read

    • Article

      Landscapes From The Heart

      Aug 11, 2020

      Landscapes From The Heart
      4 min read

    • Article

      Maleny Meadows

      Oct 19, 2021

      Maleny Meadows
      3 min read

    • Article

      Blue Botanicals

      Aug 23, 2019

      Blue Botanicals
      2 min read

    • Article

      Celebrate Nature

      Jan 20, 2023

      Celebrate Nature
      3 min read

    • Article

      Like an Athlete

      Jan 13, 2022

      Like an Athlete
      2 min read

    • Article

      Mixing Paint And Colours

      Feb 8, 2018

      Mixing Paint And Colours
      4 min read

    • Article

      HOW I MAKE IT WORK Megan Carty

      Apr 14, 2022

      HOW I MAKE IT WORK Megan Carty
      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Flower Blooms

    3/5

    1 rating1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Alright. Not a lot of art information but more of an artists personal biography

    Book preview

    A Flower Blooms - JoEl Vogt

    A Flower Blooms

    My Journey in a Landscape of Art

    JoEl Vogt

    Copyright 2018 by JoEl Vogt

    Green Mountain Farm Press

    Lincoln, Missouri

    Paintings JoEl Vogt

    Photographs Copyright Ethan Hirsh

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

    First Edition

    Printed in the United States of America

    Cover and book design by Claire Crevey

    ebook ISBN 978-0-9997402-0-0

    Smashwords Edition

    Licensing Notes

    This e-book is licensed for your personal use and enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or if it was not purchased for your use only, please visit Smashwords.com and purchase a copy for yourself. Thank you for respecting this author’s work.

    eBook by e-book-design.com

    Additional Praise

    JoEl Vogt’s eye for color is what heaven should be. The memoir is a companionable guide to an artist’s life and development. This gem of a book will bring readers back to its pages to savor it all.

    Denise Low, Kansas Poet Laureate 2007–09, author of Words of a Prairie Alchemist

    In A Flower Blooms, JoEl captures the true essence of nature as she invites readers into her senses. Her gentle awareness of every season, through every hour of the day, in the grand scheme of the wild forest as well as the minute details of each leaf, draws us in and lets us experience this peace as it flows through her narrative and rests, embodied, in her art. Thank you, JoEl, for this work of love.

    Sami Aaron, author of Experience Your 54 Senses

    The ‘good life’ JoEl found is on a small piece of heaven in the Missouri Ozarks. The valley she describes emits a peacefulness rarely found anymore. She found a country road that led her to a place where she belongs.

    Dianne Peck, Ozark historian and writer

    Dedication

    To my family and all who treasure the natural world.

    Contents

    Prologue

    One: How It All Began: Identifying and Pursuing a Dream

    Two: Learning a New Way of Living; Developing Knowledge and New Skills

    Three: Deepening My Connection to the Land by Learning More about Its History and People

    Four: Exploring Closer to Home and Creating a Sense of Place

    Five: Enhancing What We’ve Been Given, Pursuing What We Love

    Six: How I Finally Made Time to Create More Art

    Seven: My Art Evolves

    Eight: Each Season’s Gifts

    Nine: Living the Good Life

    Ten: Conclusion: For Anyone Attempting to Follow Dreams, and for Dog Lovers as Well

    Appendix

    Acknowledgments

    About the Author

    Prologue

    The year was 1951. I was eight years old and had just moved to a new town. For the first four years of my life, my father had been fighting in the Philippines in the Second World War. After he returned home to Tulsa, our small family moved to Houston, where he had found work.

    Four years after that, we moved to Cleveland. This new environment was very different from hot, humid Texas. I was extremely curious about my new world and anxious to explore. While my parents were busy moving in, they were only too happy to send me outside to play. In those days, allowing children to wander around a neighborhood alone was quite normal.

    I soon discovered a deeply wooded ravine with a small stream that meandered through moss-covered stones. This remote and mysterious scene seemed like the stuff of fairy tales.

    COLOR STRUCK

    Decades later, I found the Ozark landscape evocatively familiar, capturing my attention.

    Acrylic, 40 x 44 in.

    I imagined that Tarzan might live here. There were vines to swing from, if only I knew how. Surely fairies made homes here and danced in the stream’s sparkling spray. Perhaps they made beds from the moss.

    Birds sang and followed along, keeping me company. Tiny flowers waited to be picked and admired. I was captivated and excited but also slightly anxious. In fairy tales, there are often dangerous elements mixed in with the good ones. But these worries didn’t stop me, and exploring became my passion.

    On one excursion, I met a new friend. She had a big swing with long ropes tied to an old oak tree in her back yard. It flew out high above the ravine I had been exploring. Thrusting my legs into the sky, I soared above a cliff edge, nearly brushing treetops in the valley. The weightless delight was exhilarating.

    Another day I discovered a vacant lot filled with ripe blackberries, which I immediately stuffed into my pockets. When I finally stopped to look up, I realized I was standing on a high point and could see across a misty valley. In the distance, an entire city was spread out before an enormous lake. This was an Alice in Wonderland moment.

    I had discovered Cleveland and Lake Erie on my own. Suddenly my parents seemed so far away — and somehow unnecessary, if I could have such exciting adventures entirely by myself. At the same time, I wondered if I had gone too far.

    I wandered around awhile, trying to retrace my way home. A neighbor was outside planting her vegetable garden and noticed that I looked a bit lost, so she called me over to see the garden. By then I knew home was nearby, so I stayed to see what she was doing. Seeing my interest, she offered me some lettuce seeds and invited me to visit as often as I wanted.

    I planted the seeds beside our house as soon as I returned home. In a week or two, tiny plants appeared. This was a new experience: seeing life emerge from seeds placed in soil. After checking impatiently every day I received my reward: the miracle of food I could eat. My mother made a salad with the fresh greens and praised my endeavor.

    I was instantly hooked on gardening and began collecting seeds anytime and anywhere. In autumn, maple seeds fluttered down to earth, and I secretly stashed them in several holes behind our garage. Today, more than 60 years later, there may still be several fully grown maple trees behind that garage — my legacy from our two years in Cleveland.

    This period of my life formed a template for my future. After additional experiences of nature during my childhood, I promised myself I would someday have my own place in nature, somewhere I could visit regularly. Ideally it would be wild, untamed land. Today, I am an artist, and natural beauty regularly inspires my work.

    Beginning in my twenties I spent many years searching for locations to sketch and paint outdoors. I longed for my own spot to visit in any weather, to experience all of nature’s wonders. After searching for decades, my wish came true.

    I have had many roles including wife, mother, grandmother, artist, art therapist, and counselor, but my soul is connected to the earth. I am always delighted by a small stash of seeds, with its potential to grow into something large and valuable. This book is about my journey, my efforts to create the good life on my small piece of heaven in the Missouri Ozarks.

    I have tips to pass along about the good life, that quest for the richness life offers. Hopefully my story will act as a catalyst for anyone who envisions a different life, in whatever positive direction it might lead. My greatest hope in writing this book is that my enthusiasm helps others clear away the cobwebs to better see what brings them energy and joy, and to pursue their dreams.

    SPRING TREES

    Springtime intoxicates with color

    Oil, 18 x 24 in.

    One

    How It All Began

    Identifying and Pursuing a Dream

    After my two wonder-filled years in Cleveland, we returned to Tulsa. My parents were golfers and my experience of wildlife in Tulsa was limited to the golf club where my family spent much

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1