New paintings and regular art updates.
I’ve collected some seeds from seed heads, including poppies and nasturtiums and marigolds. I need to store them in a cool dry place and I think they will be OK in a kitchen drawer. I need to remember that are there, if not they will be wasted, also when to plant them, I guess I will Google that, or look on the back of seed packets when we go to a garden center.
The back yard in summer, there are still a few flowers out there now at the end of November, but nowhere near how these looked. Summer is a wonderful season if you live in the northern or southern latitudes you have that wait when the sun gets lower in autumn and only returns in the spring. I’m sure equatorial countries have some variations, but I don’t think there is such a change in temperature and light. I think plants bloom all year round. I wonder how climate change might effect plants. Will we have continuous blooms even through the winter? What have we done to the world?
The skies have cleared and the rain has stopped, the temperature has fallen without the clouds holding the warmth in. In some places its due to be foggy and frosty. November had been unseasonably warm. My hanging baskets have literally hung on, with flowers and leaves surviving and the odd bee bumbling around. Now though I’ve actually put the heating on, I also had the oven on to cook yes (might as well heat the house and cook food at the same time.
A national newspaper has reported we should be having six inches of snow, but the real weather forecast is for the temperature to rise again slightly.
In amidst all of this the Ecological Cop27 meeting has just gone back on some of its resolutions to reduce global warming. Major oil and gas producers have pushed for natural gas not to be treated as a greenhouse gas! I’m not sure of the whole story as I only heard a bit on the news, but I think it’s despicable that vested interests can be allowed to harm humanities future because they want their profits.
In the meantime I will continue to plant trees and try and do my bit to reduce my carbon footprint.
On a tomato plant at the back of the yard. Eight tomatoes in November. We have eaten four but we are waiting for the rest to ripen. But it’s NOVEMBER! How on earth have they lasted this long.
Tomorrow the weather forecast is for temperatures of 19°C. That’s about 8°C above normal. The COP 27 Climate change conference just discussed trying to keep temperatures from going above 1.5°C higher than before the industrial revolution. Only a small rise, but enough to cause damage and disaster. So what? Flooding in costal cities across the world, dangerous increases in the ferocity of hurricanes, tornados and typhoons. Melting icecaps and glaciers. We must all try and do something about it.
Yesterday in a garden centre, at the end of October we found this passion flower still in bloom. Its amazing how warm it has been over the last few weeks in Britain. Lasr week it was about 23° Centigrade in London and 19°s where we live. About 5 or 7° higher than usual. In some ways that’s good because we haven’t needed to put the heating on much. But it is unnatural. Apparently every month this year has been hotter than previous ones. Animals are not getting ready to hibernate, will they have enough food or energy to survive if the winter gets very cold. Who knows, it’s worrying.
Nasturtiums sprawling in the back yard. They are in our front hedge too. There are flowers six foot up in the air. You can tell its nasturtiums because of the shape of their leaves, sort of like umbrellas. The leaves, as you can see, are sometimes variegated. The colours vary from pale cream to deep red. I’ve never seen a blue or purple one? Maybe they will do some genetic modification to change that? At the end of summer they are something cheerful to look at.
When the sun slides down the sky
And the birds start to fly
South to the warmth
Of far off climbes
We see the light shine
Low in the sky
Piercing the leaves
As they yellow and fade.
Fruits are ripening
Apples wind falling
Garden spiders shimmering
In sunlight and cold rain.
The back yard looks very green now. The flowers are going and there is some wilting, but temperatures have stayed reasonable so there isn’t any frost damage yet. I suppose we will have to compost the plants if it gets really cold, but I’m one of those gardeners that keeps going as long as possible. Successes are the fushias which have woody stems, also the begonia that is in the shelter of the wall. A few lobelia remain and the nasturtiums hubby planted into the old brick wall are trailing everywhere!
Hard work, but I think it was worth it. I think some of my paintings are like knitting or embroidery, pulling all the threads together to bring it to a finished piece. And sometimes it’s knowing where to stop, to feel satisfied. Sometimes my hubby says I overwork things, but I think I know where I am with this. I decided not to add any bees or butterflies, I think that would just distract.
I’ve started working on a painting of flowers in a meadow. I am not including the sky, I just want to concentrate on the flowers. I’m afraid I don’t know the names of all of them. I want the image to look realistic and hopefully beautiful. It’s about two feet by one and a half. It will be acrylic on canvas.
Mallaband-Brown