First bloom at Elizabeth Park

Behind the painting
Written By Megan Rose
Pochade box on a tripod in the Elizabeth Park rose garden, with Pink Roses in progress beside the real roses.
On the easel, a few feet from the roses that started it.

This painting captures the first full bloom at Elizabeth Park’s Rose Garden. I painted in the early morning shade, looking toward a sunlit forest. I was drawn to the openness of these cultivars, alive with bees in an absolute frenzy, sometimes two or three tumbling together in the pollen of a single open flower.

Rose-covered arches leading to the ivy-covered gazebo at Elizabeth Park.
The rose garden at Elizabeth Park, Hartford.

The finished painting

Pink Roses, the finished painting.

Pink Roses

Oil on panel · 6 × 8 in · 2026
$200
View in the gallery
Megan Rose