Tag: Garden

Roses

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Roses are red

Violets are blue,

This doesn’t rhyme

I dont know why!

Roses have such an important role in life, they are a symbol of love, lijd red roses for valentines day. They can be sent to patients in hospital, and are a beautiful addition to a garden. Roses are used as an image on greetings cards and can also be found as part of traditional canal art.

People always seem to want to retire to a cottage where roses grow around the door. I tend to think you might get spiked on the thorns if you are not careful.

Roses are red, but they can also be in many other colours, from palest white to almost black. Some roses have sweet scent, others are without perfume. Some flower continuously through spring, summer and into autumn while others bloom only once a year.

I am interested in trying to paint or draw them, their convoluted petals are a real challenge. How they intertwine, whether they are simple flowers like the dog rose, or more complex like hybrid tea roses.

The plants can be used formally, for instance in a rose garden with box hedges , or scrambling or climbing up trellises and trees. They will grow up a pergola and give scented shade in the summer. They can also be used as ground cover.

Don’t ask me about pruning, black spot, aphid attack or other problems because I don’t know….

 

Flower time

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This was my back garden last summer! 20170831_153616

This was my back garden last summer! Unfortunatley I haven’t concentrated on it yet this year. The weather was cold and wet into spring and even now I have tiny seedlings that are just not doing much. I have also been so busy getting ready for art shows and things…

Hopefully in a few weeks time it will start looking good again,

But in the meantime I’m looking out at Blackberry canes growing across the yard. The bees like them but I’m going to remove the long ones that are trying to take over. I will try and post up to date pictures soon if I get it sorted out!

I still need to plant out the onion sets a friend gave me! Shameful that I forgot them until I wrote this!

In my friends garden

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I took these photos in a friend’s garden 6 years ago (they came up on my Facebook feed) I am a nut about colour and some of these just zing!

I think I used a little digital camera with no added features to take these. I was just amazed how the reds and oranges stood out in the green.

I wish I could time travel back to those simpler times. But time flies, tempus fugit, and before you know it you are 6 years older and perhaps not wiser!

But in the meantime I’m going to enjoy browsing through these again…

Cheers x

Poppy painting

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This is a painting I did 6 years ago outside in the garden. I love these large poppies. I had decided to  paint outside because it was a beautiful day and why not paint in situ instead of from a photo. I think then decided to take photos of the process. I guess I painted the poppy first as it was the focal point of the painting.

I added all the other flowers to make it more interesting.  One of the things with creating art is the idea if artistic licence. The other flowers were in different parts of the garden and I wanted to add their colours to the mix.

I’m not sure whether I like this painting, its a bit flat, maybe I should have used more shading as the colours are all of very similar tones, but I was looking at a shady garden and the light was changing over the time it took to paint it. it reminds me of an illustration in a book or magazine, I almost coukd see it next to a children’s story.

I love to paint, and it is always a challenge to improve.

Biddulph Grange

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Biddulph Grange, once a stately home near Biddulph, staffordshire, then a TB hospital. Now a National trust garden that was rebuilt and uncovered over the last few years.

Made up of garden rooms. Such as the China garden where a beautiful bridge reminiscent of the Spode willow patterns stands over a pool stocked with koi carp. There is a pavilion floating above the water, giving a serene feel to the garden. there is even a great wall taking you round to another aspect if the garden.

There are sphinxes in the Egyptian garden, daliahs in the daliahs walk….so much to see, so many ideas on one place. There is a Swiss cottage, and a frog staring at you from a stone wall. There is a golden calf which must have pagan overtones. The garden was created back in victorion time. I find the best time to visit is when the daliah walk is in flower. It is spectacular to see with the backdrop of a tower leading up to a higher level.

There are tunnels to walk through and various paths winding through the gardens. At the top of the long walk up the slope from the main building is a huge urn standing at the very top of the hill. You can look back and see the grounds spread out in front of you.

If you are in the vicinity why not call in?

 

 

Escher cat

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My dear friend who runs a forge called Sculpted Steel.

Late last year I asked my friend if she could make me a cat for my garden. She took on the commission and I drew a quick sketch of what I wanted.

That was a few months ago. There have been a few hiccups and ups and downs, but I finally collected “Escher” today.

He is finely made. The details are brilliant. He even has green eyes! My friend took on board my request that the whiskers were to be curled roundcat the ends to stop anyone poking themselves in the eye. It has been finished off with green car paint.

Escher is now in a quiet part of the garden. He might even frighten off the neighbours cat, at least can’t pounce on the birds!

Sketches at Dorothy Clive Garden

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I like taking a small sketchbook with me when I visit interesting places, its easy to snap a few photos on my phone, but much more challenging to sit for 20 to 30 minutes sketching the view.

Dorothy Clive Garden is beautiful. Even at this time of year when there are mainly spring flowers and the perrenials are not out yet you can see the towering trees, Bluebells, Magnolia’s and Rhododendrons.

We walked up to the tearoom and sat and drank coffee and ate icecream while the Sun (unusually for a Bank holiday weekend) shone down. It was so hot Richard bought me a wide brimmed hat from the gift shop.

I drew the view over the lawn to a low hedge where you can see evergreen trees and branches of deciduous trees just coming into leaf. In the distance was the misty blue grey hills of Shropshire. Over the ridge is a little village called Loggerheads.

Then we walked into the quarry garden. The blackbirds and robins were singing loudly. If you follow the sound of flowing water along the paths edged with Camellia, Rhododendron, Bluebells and other flowers which are just starting to open in the spring sunlight, you round a corner and see a tree that has been cut down to a stump that is still about 15 foot tall.

The stump has had the outline of a woodpecker carved into it, and apparently has had a greater spotted woodpecker (not sure if that’s the right name) living in a hole in it for the last two years.

Follow the sound further and you find the waterfall that runs from the back of the quarry down into its bowl. It is a man made feature but still lovely. I sat and sketched it, getting lost in how to represent the vegetation against the darkened rocks.

Finally we picked up some plants for the garden that we had bought earlier and walked down the slope to the pool at the bottom of the garden. This looks like it has recently been re-lined and the black liner is visible round the edges. Looking back up the hill various evergreen trees and bushes are visible, together with the new growth of Gunnera, which will grow massive over the summer. The pool is lacking its water lilies but they should be back soon. Halfway up the hill is a little wooden summer house or pavillion. The view is splendid from there.

3 drawings were enough. It was hot and I needed a drink. But I know I will go back again soon.

X

Trees and views

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Leaves unfurl and block the view,                                                     the sky is shaded out,                                                                           green and orange, and yellow too,                                                    they cast their shade about.

Atop a hill, those huge trees grew,                                                     their roots spread wide no doubt,                                                           and round their branches… true                                                       delight I see the fields sprout.

Now came old autumn, when leaves flew,                                       they were madly strewn about,                                                          the world is seen as if anew,                                                                and “slumber trees!” I shout.

I’m not good at rhyming. I prefer blank verse, but I thought I would have a go at making a more traditional poem.

“View” and “Out” are such simple words…you can probably think of far more rhymes for them than I can. The poem is based on a visit to the Dorothy Clive Garden today. The leaves are starting to fill in the gaps between the branches and twigs, and some views will disappear until the leaves fall again in October or November, when the world beyond them will be revealed again. I think you can see three counties, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire can be seen from the top of the quarry garden there.

It’s a beautiful place if you feel like visiting it.

Garden…

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One day its winter, the next day the buds and flowers burst out and its Spring. The Sun goes through the Spring Equanox. Finally in the northern hemisphere days are longer than nights. In about 6 or 7 weeks it will be mid summer’s day.

The trees are covered I blossom.  Our Apple, Cherry, and Pear trees are full of it. I hope the frost does not come and damage them. A few years ago when the cherry tree was small I festooned it with garden fleece.  It’s far too tall and wide now.

The walls are bare. The hanging basket brackets devoid of their burdens. Later they will be filled with a glorious mix of trailing flowers, Lobelia, Surfinia, Pelargonium, Busy Lizzies. I even plant spider plants in them.

The back yard has its own microclimate. Last year we manages to grow a Banana plant and Lilies and Bouganvillia. (I dont know if that’s the right spelling), we also have Clematis and a small Apple tree round the back.

I sometimes paint the Poppies that grow to the size of small dinner plates in the summer. I have plans to do the same this year

X.

 

Pictures on my phone. ..

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My phone is getting so full of instagram pictures and camera photos. I added an SD card so I can store more, but there are too many to scroll through. So I created a separate gallery with some of my old photos…a painting if a friend , the canvas stretched over a curved chair back because I could not afford a stretcher..painted over 30 years ago… (somehow I have it twice)…a painting of koi carp at a garden centre….parts of a mural I helped paint along with several other artists, including me standing at the board it was painting on…a blue mecanopsis poppy….an Abyssinian cat painted on a blue background…. my old cat Molly, the year before she died…a painting of an Autumn woman…similar to the ancient green man….my grandmother, only the head is from a photo, the rest is imagined…and finally a photo taken at a lovely garden…the Dorothy Clive garden which us a few miles from where I live. ..

So many things to look at, to paint, to enjoy. I cannot stick to one theme.  It is like just eating cheddar cheese and not trying brie or goats cheese .

I think your mind needs to be open to experiences, thoughts, ideas. Don’t close yourself in. Freedom is possible, life is a wonderful thing.