After three years of studies at Converse College, Blondelle Malone wrote to her parents: “I have finally decided on art as a profession and I mean to work at it as hard as I can and see if I can be an artist some day. Think this way of girls going to school and getting married nonsense.” Upon her arrival in New York, the South Carolinian matriculated at the Art Students League. It was while visiting a former League classmate in Rhode Island that she later executed this plein air painting. Illuminated by pale sunshine, a low stone wall and thin row of trees create a strong diagonal in the otherwise horizontal composition. Both the loose brushwork and atmospheric mood are characteristic of Impressionist landscapes. The lavender field flowers reflect Malone’s penchant for floral scenes, works that led to her moniker as “the garden artist of America.”
