New paintings and regular art updates.
I collect ‘stuff’, I have ‘collections’ or as others would call it ‘clutter’.
Plants, cat ornaments, paintings, marbles, a few buttons, drawings, sketchbooks, cushions, books (lots of). A few cats, other stuff….. Hubby has bikes, trains, other stuff.
Where do I put it all, where do I keep it? Our house is more like a museum than a home. I need storage, I wish I could shrink it all down and put it on my phone. Or give me a shrink Ray and I can put it all in a dolls house!
Today we had the task of replacing the plants, hanging baskets and pots in the back yard that we had taken down to have a new fence put in. The next door neighbour had allowed us in to get at his side of the wall so we’ve helped him by clearing back the brambles and Ivy and cleared his path so he can get to the back gate.
Now the pots are back I can see which ones have suffered from drought and the cold. They were all crammed together in our garden (on the other side of the house) but it was cold last night so some things have wilted. We have a real microclimate in the yard and it’s always a bit warmer there. Hopefully they will bounce back in the coming days.
Strange towering cloud seen on our walk. Looks like someone walking with their hands being them and with an Elephants head, trunk raised.
Will our children and our children’s children even recognise Elephants, or Lions and Tigers and all the other animals (and plants) that are becoming extinct? When the last Elephant in the wild has its tusks hacked off by trophy hunters or illegal poachers, will someone notice or care?
Man sets himself up as the most important animal. But that means we should care for what lives on Earth. Not destroy it.
Everything is spreading out, the flowers are still blooming and huge leaves are sprouting from the courgette plants although I haven’t looked at them for a few days. My morning glory plants have survived a few cool nights, but still no flowers. I probably planted them too late in the season. I really need to dead head the plants but it’s so cramped along the yard its hard to get down there….. I have noticed the blueberries are ripening. I must pick them soon… I need to get my act together.
Two old chairs and some planks of wood. Upcycling I think it’s called? Or is it recycling…. The chairs are solid so this should work. I think she’s going to make it into a garden seat with a space in the centre for a plant pot or planter. The good thing about this is that it is recycled, so instead of hundreds of pounds this could be made from scrap out of a skip and some screws to hold it together.
A ggrou of us have decided to keep running sketching challenges but not in our local urban sketching group. This is because not everyone sticks to the urban sketchers rules and we were also clogging up the gallery with some strange and interesting images, but not necessarily outside.
Today’s challenge was distance. I saw some people have drawn landscapes with far away landmarks, but I interpreted it differently….. I in my case I drew my friends back yard. With plants growing up the wall and in pots at the rear of her house. First of a new set of ideas….
Ivy leaf pelagoniums and a gazenia (not sure of spelling). We saw them for sale at a florists in Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme today. I decided to get them as the weather is changing and I want to extend the flowering season in the garden. We also got some cyclamen including normal ones, and some called petticoat cyclamen which are more splayed out than the original type. I picked up a red sedum too.
It’s heading towards autumn now. I noted a tinge of broken or red on some of the trees as we were driving over to Wolstanton. It will be here soon. The nights are drawing in too.
When we got home I popped to the shops. While I was there I was tempted and grabbed a box of mixed tulip bulbs, and another one of various small flower bulbs. Gardening is a wonderful occupation. Try it if you can.
One of the best things this year have been the begonias in the hanging baskets.
I’m not certain, but I think there are male and female flowers. Because some are big and blousy and the others are smaller and more simple. Whichever they are, they have been beautiful this year. The colours are subtle and amazing. They have also lasted a long time. I’ve only had to dead head them a few times. I’m hoping the weather does not get cold too soon so I can enjoy them for a few weeks longer.
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My hubby keeps collecting seeds and nuts at the moment. His plan is to put them in pots and try and grow them, then pass them on to friends? But what if no-one wants them? I do not need any more trees in our garden. We have two oak saplings already, a twenty five year old walnut tree which is sixty foot high, a willow tree, a pear, two or three apples, a sycamore, a mountain Ash, an Ash tree. Also a eucalyptus, three leylandii, plus others and lots of bushes. But no, he’s not satisfied. The garden is where two houses used to stand, there isn’t enough space for more plants.
A plant on the kitchen windowledge is duplicated in the Layout app. The result seems to be a strange weird alien face, but it’s just a Christmas canvas plant with spiky leaves. This is what I do when I can’t see and go down for a coffee in the early morning!
Here’s another one. They really do create impossibly strange weird structures.
Anyway, only got four hours sleep. Might treat myself to a nap!
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Mallaband-Brown