Cynthia Gunderson

After being an educator for 25 years, I realized the feeling I missed most in retirement was not the joy of learning what I shared with the students, but the joy of my learning something every day. I needed another setting to renew that art of learning and communicating. Our wooded backyard became my next classroom.
I started with painting rocks – to send messages to family and friends, to leave on the walking paths down our rural road, to add color to the landscape. Using acrylic and oil-based paints, my yard art expanded to include painted rocks and stained/painted wood stumps into nature scenes, as well as some abstract designs. The rocks provide some dimension to the landscape of the stump. For example, vines, flowers, and a nest are painted on a stump partially stained to look like a tree. Tiny rocks designed as bird eggs and a small porcelain bird are then added. I like incorporating little glass, porcelain, or metal objects for a unique surprise – a glass bumblebee on a flower, a metal frog on a lily pad, a porcelain bird sitting in the knot of a tree. I also make drilled river rock sculptures. My goal is to add a little smile into nature’s classroom.