Beauty of Mill Creek gardens inspires California artist

YOUNGSTOWN — A San Francisco artist has immortalized a piece of Mill Creek Park’s Fellows Riverside Gardens in watercolor.

Gary Bukovnik visited the gardens, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, a few years ago and their beauty struck him.

“I was so taken with the beauty of the park,” Bukovnik said. “Youngstown is very, very, very — I can’t emphasize it enough — fortunate to have such a beautiful garden.”

Keith Kaiser, gardens horticulture director, informed the artist about the upcoming golden anniversary of the gardens and Bukovnik offered to create and donate a painting memorializing the occasion.

Last month, Kaiser and Bukovnik gathered all variety of golden tulips from the gardens to provide the model.

“We selected, dark gold tulips, light gold tulips, tulips with red and gold,” Bukovnik said.

A lover of tulips, the artist planned his Youngstown trip around when those flowers were in full bloom.

The painting also showcases the Fellows Favorite daffodil, a flower hyrbridized for the gardens’ anniversary by Brent and Becky Heath of Gloucester, Va., Kaiser said.

The color of the tulips matches the Gardens’ golden anniversary.

Bukovnik, a Cleveland native, spent about four hours sketching the blooms and about two days painting.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com