New paintings and regular art updates.
A process of cropping, mirroring and flipping images to create interesting patterns. I think the final result looks like a little owl reflected in water. I’ve changed the tones and hues slightly in the image to enhance the shadows in the cloudscape. The idea has always been to have abstract shapes apparently floating in the sky. It’s a recurring theme of mine.
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Helibores are flowering,
Snowdrops soon will bloom,
Then will follow crocuses
With the light of the moon.
Daffodils and Tulips, all in a row,
Then come the wind flowers,
Wood anemone,
Finally in sunshine
Bluebells, for to see….
Spring will alive
With flowers for you and me.
You know how it is..
You go into the garden
When it rains
And there are slugs.
What are they for?
They munch your broccoli,
Eat the hearts of your lettuce,
Nip the buds off peonies,
And eat your ripe tomatoes.
But they also eat old and diseased vegetables.
They help clear up leaves
In the autumn,
And they are food for blackbirds and frogs.
So not all bad then…?
Random photo of flowers.
Just something to brighten your days.
Shining with colour.
Greens and purples.
Orange and mauve.
Blocks of plants.
Textures and petals.
Summer come again.
Soon.
About 7.50 this morning. The cat was on the window ledge looking out over the garden. Standing sentinel. Approving the occupants of the green place outside. Birds fly or scurry across the land, feeding on wild bird seed. Other cats stalk through the plants and drink the pond water. None miss my cats gaze. He also seems to protect us. Standing guard against interlopers. I feel secure seeing him sitting statue like. Patient, watching over us.
Variegated Holly, a view of winter plants. When desiduous leaves have fallen, Ivy and Holly add green to the garden. We have three Holly bushes. This one, a tall spikey one with fully green leaves and one with pale green edges instead if yellow. The fully green one is the most robust. It is growing in a shady part of the garden and making even denser shade. The other two are in more open areas. We cut off lower branches to let more light into the lower layers of the garden so summer flowering plants are not completely shaded out. I can’t wait for the spring bulbs to come up, although the local squirrel population seems to like digging them up. There will be narcissi and crocus around the Holly in spring.
Cold, wet and windy, but still a bit green where the ivy is growing up trees in the garden. Really it needs cutting back. I don’t want it strangling them. There are bird feeders out there, but there seem to be less birds than normal. Perhaps they have enough food, we haven’t seen evidence of them being predated by cats thankfully. I want to get out there and cut back the buddliea bushes. They need pruning.
The pond is OK, it’s hidden below the cherry tree. It has only frozen a couple of times and only thinly this autumn / winter. We hope to have tadpoles in the spring.
This is Woody, that’s what we’ve christened him. He’s been hanging round our garden for a year, eating food, and he’s gradually settled in our summerhouse. But it’s not ideal. I’d invite him in but my two rescue cats are timid, and I never got them their booster inoculations because they won’t get in the cat carriers. Anyway they are indoor cats so as long as Woody doesn’t come in they are safe.
But (and you knew this was coming, didn’t you?) I feel sorry for Woody and so I got someone to come round and check if he’s microchipped. Turns out he is but the phone number is dead and although we have been told he’s from a few streets away, they won’t tell us where because of Data protection.
No one has put missing posters up so I guess he is abandoned.
He’s a lovely friendly cat but after a year of being semi feral it’s going to be hard to get him rehomed. He doesn’t like being inside (we tried to get him in out of the rain), but I’d love him to be loved and snuggled down somewhere. Maybe on his own with a big garden to roam around, but also more cuddles than we can give.
If you live in Staffordshire maybe get in touch?
My hubby collected these from under a huge Oak tree about a month ago and he’s planted them in pots in the garden! About fifty of them. I’m not sure if they will germinate, if they do we will need to find a very large field to plant them in. They can grow with the Walnut saplings that the squirrel has planted in the garden, and the Ash tree saplings, and sycamore saplings that have self seeded. Our garden is turning into a wood. X
Still leaves on the trees although the breeze picked up earlier tonight and its raining so there will be a soggy wet mess in the garden not crisp piles of leaves to scrunch through. But fallen leaves are a good source of shelter for invertebrates and small mammals during the winter. Sometimes the old piles of wood in a garden can also attract hedgehogs, so don’t burn the wood, or at least move it first and burn it straight away if you don’t want to hurt the hedgehogs that might be hiding in the log pile. You can use leaf mould to mulch flower beds. It gives nutrients back to the soil and shelters tender plants. Enjoy what’s left if the autumn u here in the North. Hopefully eople South of the equator will have lovely spring weather.
Mallaband-Brown