New paintings and regular art updates.
There is a frog in our pond. We had frogs several years ago, but they disappeared. Now they have come back. They are sharing the pond with some goldfish which seem to be OK. I wasn’t sure if they could co-exist? Do frogs eat fish? It’s funny seeing them breathe the water making tiny ripples with their movements. It’s a real wildlife garden and pond.
On a lighter note this statue of Persius and Medusa is at Trentham Gardens, Trentham, Staffordshire. The statue is inside the gardens next to the lake which means you have to pay to go in. I’m sure there is information about it but this is a photo from last year. I haven’t been in the gardens for months and probably with the heavy rain we’ve been having the plants there might be a bit battered but they are usually very beautiful.
I’m going to try and finish my painting of mars that I shared a couple of days ago to get in our Orme art exhibition at the Brampton in Newcastle-under-Lyme and try and go back to Trentham again on Friday.
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The season of Autumn is upon us, despite having temperatures of 33.7°C in some parts of the country this week.
Today was cooler, we had rain, the sky had been cloudy all day.
Autumn, changing days
Sun sets early, rises late.
Leaves turn from green to flame.
Ending a summers growth.
Fruit and fungi burgeoning
Apples become sweet, pears ripe.
Leaves lie deep, scrunch and crunch.
Life settles down until winters slumber.
It’s all berries, flowers, and spider webs.
The temperature is rising again and the fruit is ripening. The spiders in the garden are busy catching pests, and flowers continue to emerge.
Watering plants is important, especially in hanging baskets, I’m afraid mine have started to wilt.
My hubby has counted about fifty small pears on the pear tree, which is growing at an angle because it’s top heavy. We have used a piece of timber to prop it up. We also have quite a few green tomatoes, basically because they are in too much shade so are not ripening quickly.
Life continues, cats mooch round the garden trying to pounce on the odd wood pigeon. I keep our cats in but can’t shoo the neighbouring ones away easily.
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Despite the sunshine in these photos the rain keeps coming down. We have had a lot of blustery showers over the last few days and I’ve only had to water my hanging baskets a couple of times. I can’t get up the bit next to the house because it’s getting really overgrown. I think I’m going to have to take a few leaves off the tomato plants soon so what tomatoes we have get some sun to ripen them!
This is the view outside the window.
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Warning, this post contains an image of a spider. Don’t look if you don’t like them. It’s a garden spider so it’s quite big……
Left a gap so people don’t have to look. It’s a garden spider, building its web outside the kitchen window. It had been battered by a rain shower that had happened a few minutes ago.
This was our garden about ten years ago. The trees are a lot bigger now and there is a lot more shade. There is a buddlea that is touching the side of the house about the quarters of the way up. The picture is an acrylic on canvas. It’s a bit blurry I’m afraid. I took the photo at my sisters house and was rushing when I took it.
I painted it in situ, sitting on a garden chair and holding the canvas so I had to paint speedily. It’s about 12 x 8 inches, so not very big.
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He sits quietly in a laurel bush, watching, seeing who enters the garden. The stone gargoyle. Winged, large ears turned to listen. How did he get there? Did he climb or fly? How does he stay there, no nails or glue support him. Does he protect or reject visitors to His garden? Stone carved and muscular. Is he hiding from gargoyle hunters, who stalk the suburbs and smash his unsuspecting siblings?
What are you, fiend from a nightmare or friend from a mediaeval church? Like an escaped pigeon, sitting in the laurel bush, waiting for his lost love.
I like this, the way everything seemed to line up. The wind spinner, lilies and the chair, and I like the colour combinations. The copper colours with the greens and browns. The cloud cover seemed to enhance the shadows as the sun crept out from between them. The calla lily infront of the budda.
Bit busy but just took quick photos of some flowers in the garden. Used my phone on magnification.
Mallaband-Brown