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LUXURY LIVING

Creating art with landscapingArtist uses soil as his canvas, plants as his medium R2

Jay Petrow

A home near the Long Island Sound in Greenwich features Jay Petrow’s landscaping work, including lush sea grasses. As an abstract artist,Petrow uses groups of plants to create color and texture.

ANDERSON ASSOCIATES164 MASON STREETGREENWICH, CT 06830

203-629-4519

WWW.GREENWICHLIVING.COM

ANDERSONASSOCIATESGREENWICH SPECIALISTS

R2 | Greenwich Time | Friday, August 14, 2015

REAL ESTATE

Jay Petrow does with paints andplants what musical masters dowith notes on a staff. The Westportartist and landscape designerarranges colors, textures andshapes — whether they originatefrom a tube of paint or the earth orhe applies them with a brush andpalette knife or a trowel and spade— to create works of art.

Petrow is an award-winningartist whose landscape designsappear in a far-flung gallery ofproperties in Fairfield and West-chester counties and the Hamp-tons on Long Island. The formerart director, senior art director andinternational art director for Busi-ness Week Magazine, and layoutdesigner for Time and Sports Il-lustrated magazines, is the ownerand chief landscape designer ofPetrowGardens Landscape Designbased in Westport.

Petrow gravitated to paintingabstract expressionist works threeyears ago after many years ofpainting representative landscapes,still lifes and portraiture. He saidhe finds inspiration “in (Wassily)Kandinsky’s vibrant use of colorand the expressive brushstrokes ofHans Hoffman, Franz Kline andRobert Motherwell.”

The artist doesn’t think aboutlandscaping when he paints ab-stracts and he doesn’t think aboutabstract painting when he doeslandscape design. “But the waythat I visualize landscapes and theway that I visualize the paintingsis similar in that I am thinkingabout color and texture and con-trasting shapes,” said Petrow, whostudied painting at the SilvermineSchool of Art in New Canaan,landscape design at the New YorkBotanical Gardens and advertisingat the School of Visual Arts inManhattan. He received a bache-lor’s degree in fine arts and biologyfrom Middlebury College in Ver-mont.

Designing landscapes and paint-ing abstract art have more simi-larities than one would expect.

“When you look at nature, thereare so many details in the land-scape,” he said. “As a landscape

designer, I’m inspired by my natu-ral surroundings, but I abstract itto its core essence in my designs.When a garden is designed,groups of plants are used to com-pose areas of color and texturethat interplay with each other.”

Alison Cox, one of Petrow’sGreenwich clients, said the viewercan actually get lost in his work.

“There’s a lot there aestheticallyto look at,” she said about hispainting. “It’s very rich and deep.I’m really impressed.”

She said Petrow’s artwork isorganic and moves around on acanvas, much as plants move in agarden, perhaps nudged by awhisper of a breeze or blown by agust of wind. Cox is equally movedby the artwork he created in heryard.

“As a (landscape) designer he isincredibly talented,” she said.

The Cox family has a rain gar-den on its property. A rain gardentakes advantage of rainfall andrunoff from a storm and afterSuperstorm Sandy in October 2012town officials tightened regula-tions on what can and cannot beplanted in a rain garden. Cox saidPetrow was knowledgeable of therules and the specific plantings

allowed. “It’s just beautiful, and it’s been

blooming basically since June. It’sgorgeous, it’s unique,” she said.

It’s not the typical landscaping,which can be cookie-cutter. Petrowis, in effect, painting on a propertyusing the soil as his canvas and theflowers and shrubbery as his me-dium.

“It’s that special. Everyone com-ments on it, too,” she said.

In Cox’s rain garden, he com-bined agastache, a purple-plumedflower also known as hyssop orhummingbird mint, with orangehelenium, also called obedientplant, because he knew theywould bloom at the same time andhe liked the idea of the contrastingcolor palette and shapes. Agas-

tache grows vertically while thedaisy-like helenium grows hori-zontally.

In another garden, he has plant-ed variegated, broad-leafed char-treuse-colored hostas with red-dish-purple heuchera.

“They all seem to work togetheras a painting,” Petrow said. Healso experiments with combina-tions of refined or cultivated pe-

rennial flowers with wild plant-ings.

Unlike his paints, which he canmix to create whatever color hedesires, in the garden Petrow’screativity is limited to what Moth-er Nature allows. The flowers andshrubbery are dictated by theregional weather, growing zone,sun, shade and whether certainplants are drought-resistant orneed frequent watering.

He plays with depth in hispaintings and the same with hislandscape design. In his mind, he’strying to visualize how the variouselements will integrate themselvesinto the landscape not just inwarm weather months butthroughout the year.

LUXURY LIVING

Artist designs landscapes using soil as his canvasBy Meg Barone

Jay Petrow

Above: Jay Petrow is an abstract painter, who is often influenced bynature, like in this piece titled “Waterfall.” Right: A Greenwichhome on Keofferam Road features landscaping from Jay Petrow.

Nancy E. Clarke

Jay Petrow

DetailsTo see Jay Petrow’s landscape workvisit www.petrowgardens.com. Toview his fine art, visit www.jaypetrowfineart.com.To view hisgraphic design and art directionwork visit www.jpetrowdesign.com.

AGENT PROFILE Jeanne Barton

Jeanne Barton was studying landscapedesign on the college level when she got acorporate job with a West Coast insur-

ance company, Transamerica Title InsuranceCompany. At the job, she served as branchmanager and senior account manager, whichentailed conducting title searches using landrecords.

“I learned how properties moved throughhistory,” said Barton, who entered the realestate profession at the worst possible time.It was 2009, just a year after the stock marketcrash when real estate stalled. But Bartonsaw it as an opportunity.

“It was actually good for me. I had time toprocess what the world of real estate waslike,” she said.

Barton said she was always drawn to realestate. “I always loved the land and livingspaces,” she said. She was always intriguedby what people do to make those spaces theirown.

Barton said she appreciates the varietythat the real estate profession offers.

“It’s not one-dimensional. I thought it was,but I found out it was oh so much more,” saidBarton, who calls it “the best job in theworld.”

She did completed a two-year degree pro-gram in landscape design at Bellevue Com-munity College and it remains a passion ofhers. She brings that artistic vision to herwork as a Realtor.

“I know what a house has to look like tobring it to the market. I look at a house withobjective eyes,” she said.

Barton also loves gardening and identifies

herself as “a farmer at heart.” She enjoyshorseback riding and is a past member of theNew Canaan Mounted Troop Association.She has volunteered for the Pegasus thera-peutic riding program for special needschildren and looks forward to volunteeringfor that organization again in the future.

Barton is a 25-year resident of Greenwich,where her two daughters were born andraised.

“Homes, gardens, beaches, schools andrecreation. Greenwich has it all,” said Bar-ton, who is also a member of Grace Church ofGreenwich.

Realtor brings artistic eye

Business: William Raveis Real Estate

Office: Greenwich

Lives: Greenwich

Expertise: Title search, home building andrenovations

Contact: (203) 979-2230, Jeanne.Barton@raveis.com

L ike many Realtors, W. Harry Poolhad a different career prior to enter-ing the real estate market eight years

ago. He spent 25 years as an investmentbanker in capital markets at Citibank,Salomon Brothers, Merrill Lynch, as man-aging director, and Lehman Brothers.

Investment banking was a great trainingground for Pool’s work in real estate. Hedeveloped skills in asset valuation, negoti-ation, and alternative financing tech-niques, and salesmanship.

“In capital markets, you are selling allthe time. In real estate you are selling thefirm’s ability to market a client’s property,”Pool said.

Even before his investment bankingcareer, Pool was engaged in a sport at ahigh level, which also contributed to hisdiscipline and pursuit of excellence. As acompetitive martial artist, he competed onthe Denver karate team in the open stylestate championship.

Pool, who received a master’s degree inbusiness administration with honors fromNew York University and a bachelor’s ofscience in business administration fromthe University of Denver, said he chosereal estate “to stay in the game,” becausehe enjoys dealing with people on an im-portant level, and he loves the art of nego-tiating.

Pool’s expertise is wide-ranging. “I sell expensive houses, and I sell less

expensive houses,” said Pool, who alsoworks with a wide range of clients, in-cluding renters.

Pool is a top producer in the Greenwich,Stamford, and Darien Real Estate markets.He has also participated in structuring,developing and investing in more than 15commercial and residential properties infour different states.

He and his wife, Mary, have been Green-wich residents for more than 30 years andraised four children. His daughter, FieldPool, has followed his footsteps into realestate. He enjoys fly fishing, golf andshooting clay pigeons in his free time.

Former banker uses skills

Business: Halstead Property

Office: Greenwich

Lives: Greenwich

Expertise: Investment banking background,knowledge of the community.

Contact: (203) 912-2500, hpool@halstead.com

AGENT PROFILE W. Harry Pool

Address Price (in millions)

25 Lower Cross Road $65

124 Old Mill Road $31.5

200 Guards Road $27.895

429 Taconic Road $23.5

1 Harbor Drive $20

30 Round Hill Club Road $20

17 Cowdray Park Drive $19.9

7 Cobb Island Drive $18.75

81 Brookside Drive $18.75

36 & 38 Game Cock Road $18.5

Source: MLS

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