They may be still lifes, but the subjects of Patricia Kitchings’ paintings are anything but still — they are ever-changing: growing, dying, and reborn every spring. They are the flowers in her Stonington garden, and some are centuries old, planted and replanted in different locations throughout the generations.

Such paintings of flowers and fruits have a long, historic tradition. In various stages of freshness or decay, still lifes were often thought to symbolize the transience of life and the fleeting nature of beauty.

"From the Garden," an exhibition opening on Thursday, June 11, at The Cooley Gallery in Old Lyme, will feature more than 15 of Kitchings’ small floral still-lifes, all oils, the majority painted within the last year. 

Kitchings had her first one-person show in Old Lyme more than 30 years ago. This is her first solo show at Cooley. Over the years, she’s shown individual paintings there and at other galleries along the Connecticut shoreline.

“I met Patty a long time ago, and she was doing these beautiful, intimate, just touching still lifes of flowers and I loved them,” gallery owner Jeff Cooley recalls. “And we kept asking her to show them here, but she was very popular and didn’t have much inventory. We started talking again about the idea of a solo show, so I went up to her house, saw the garden, which is just glorious, and saw the paintings, which are equally glorious. And Patty has been prolific in the past 6 to 9 months, painting as well as looking, so I’m thrilled to have her show here.” 

Kitchings says her passion for flowers has blossomed through the years. 

“I grew up in Waterford and was blessed with a beautiful environment,” she says. “My mom had gorgeous perennial gardens, so I always had an affinity for flowers."

A classically trained artist in many media, Kitchings was studying at the Art Student League in New York City in the early 1970s when one of her instructors encouraged her to return to Connecticut to attend the new art college in Old Lyme, now the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts. And so she did.

“I then started a garden of my own and always had a love for the flower,” Kitchings says. “It represented all the security and love, I think, that I received as a kid.

“My husband built me a gorgeous little studio (in Stonington) and of course, with my training, I did a lot of portraits,” she says. “So that’s why these flowers, when I brought them inside the studio and arranged them in whatever glass, became little portrait pieces. I wanted to celebrate the actual flower.” 

Kitchings says she prefers painting flowers in small scale.

“Having the flowers right in front of me, I haven’t blown them way up,” she says. “It’s the calm kind of a replication of what I’m seeing (although) the arrangement in the painting might be a little smaller or bigger than what I’m actually seeing.

She cites 19th-century French painter Edouard Manet as one of her inspirations.

“While he was dying (in the winter of 1880), his friends brought him bouquets of flowers and he did a whole series of small flower paintings while he was so ill, and those really influenced me, too,” she says. “They kind of represented his love for people.” 

Family tradition

Kitchings was born in the Norwich area, and when she was a young child, her mother moved the family to Waterford. 

“I didn’t realize it as a kid, but as I grew older I realized that my mom’s perennial gardens, her flowers, were a kind of expression of her love, the way she expressed herself. It obviously made an impression on me.”

Her grandmother also was a gardener. Kitchings believes that one of her favorite subjects — peonies — probably came from her grandmother. Her mother likely brought them from Norwich to replant them in Waterford. 

“They’re definitely over 100 years old, maybe close to 200,” Kitchings says. “My grandmother’s peonies were probably inherited from her mother. It’s remarkable, the life of these perennial flowers, the fact that they continue to come back for us. 

“I lost my husband 9 years ago, and so I think the flowers are sort of symbolic, too, of life continuing and spirits continuing,” Kitchings says. “Boy, what more perfect example than these perennials that come back in full glory.” 

Cooley says of the flower portraits, “Mostly, I just think they make you feel good; they give you the feeling of friendship, and from a purely artistic standpoint, they’re wonderfully done. They’re fresh and personal and sincere. And the scale and price, honestly, go together so well, it’s going to make a really exciting show.”

If you go

What: “From the Garden,” an exhibition and sale of new paintings by Patricia Kitchings

Where: The Cooley Gallery, 25 Lyme St., Old Lyme

When: June 11-July 11; the public is invited to an opening reception on June 11 from 5 to 7 p.m. Regular gallery hours are Tues.- Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Information: Online or (860) 434-8807.