India

Rosanna Hardin Hall strolls into the Taj Mahal, designed by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his favorite wife. The magnificent white temple in Agra, India, stands in open space in a Garden of Paradise.

“I yearn to capture the essence of such romantic, exotic gardens with the art supplies I have brought. I have packed an easel, a box of watercolors, brushes, and two camp stools.”

The Mughals who migrated out of Asia…(continued after images)

Fern and Frescoes

Water Slide

Drummer Boy

Oberoi Udaivilas Bugle Boy

Oberoi Udaivilas Descending Garden

Floating Bougainvilla

White Bougainvilla

Blue Flower Wall

(continued from top of gallery)…brought Persian artisans to the northern desert where water must be brought in to entice a garden to grow.

“I have admired the manmade gardens which line up plants and trees along avenues to create a sense of perspective of near and far objects in nature. Such geometric gardens help the eye point to a focus of interest such as the Tajah Mahal. Therefore, I enjoy the Mughal sensibility toward order in nature.

“Gardens of Paradise – where I feel so at peace – is a quest I fulfilled during a two-week visit to the Mughal gardens of India. I happily roamed 16^th century gardens as part of a tour led by Patrick Bowes, an Irish landscape architect and historian.”