New paintings and regular art updates.
I saw these today on my sisters timeline. 
I love Himilayan poppies. I’ve tried to grow them on many occasions. One year I bought a plant and for a glorious few days it flowered, but that was it, it withered and died. Too much water? Too little? Too shady? I should have read the instructions. Mecanopsis. Beautiful.
The delicate blues like washed sky after a rainstorm, edged with the shade as the sky starts to darken at nightfall….
six weeks ago I ordered our hanging baskets from a little nursery in the countryside. It’s actually based at a small farm near Silverdale in Newcastle-under-Lyme. It’s set back off a country road and is basically a little parking area surrounded by greenhouses and shaded concrete platforms, each of which is covered in garden plants. Most of the normal plants seem to have been sold but we took some clematis, begonia, a rose and other plants as well as the hanging baskets. We have been going there for about six years, and each year we get what we need for the garden. Now it’s a case of rearranging plants and hanging the baskets up. You can see we’ve gone a bit mad. But as we haven’t been spending much lately it did mean we could afford it.
There was too much to fit in the boot, so some of it had to go on the back seat. Be warned. With all hthe plants and soil in them they are not very easy to lift.
Will post photos when they are up.
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When I posted about my friends garden I forgot to add this photo. Its my favourite picture, the red and green really zings.
I imagine it was very tasty, although I’ve never actually had any.
It just speaks of sunshine and good health. It’s amazing how coloured leaves can be just as intense as flowers. I’ve cropped the edges to accentuate the colours.
Six years ago.
I took these in a friends garden because they were so colourful and interesting. I think some of the plants are Swiss chard, nasturtium, marigold, sweet peas and poppies. Most of the day the sun shone in it except later on when the sun webt behind the hill. Some lovely colour combinations.
This was my drawing of the Dorothy Clive Garden on 6.5.18. It’s recently reopened but with a booking system so you have to book morning or afternoon slots to visit. There is a self service system at the cafe. I hope we can go one day next week if the weather improves, after a month or more of sunshine we have been having rain for the last few days. Good for all gardens including the Dorothy Clive.
It will be lovely to see different landscapes, beautiful flowers, and peaceful water features.
When you draw a place you are interpreting the world in a different way to simple photographs. That’s why I enjoy it. Trying to tame nature and describe it.
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About six weeks ago the buds were just bursting in the garden. Now they have emerged and the garden is clothed in green. The Walnut tree looks like it’s gained another five or six foot. It towers over the garden. Water seeps out from underneath it. We have had it checked to see if its a split pipe but the workers who looked at it said no, it’s a spring. Whatever it is, we seem to be growing a pond or a lake now. We have put a bird bath in its way, a shallow bowl, so that the birds and animals that frequent the garden can get a drink in the warm weather. I’m now thinking of planting some hostas or iris or bog plants in that area. I would like to pipe it away into a drain if I can.
We have had a bit of heavy rain over the last few days. Dark clouds fly past overhead, dumping rain and hail over us. I’m waiting for the next downpour.
A poppy painting I did a while ago.
This recent warm sunshine is bringing all the poppies out into flower. We walked into town, and where the pathways have not been sprayed with weed killer, all sorts of plants, including oriental poppies, are springing up. Mother nature is taking over.
But… In places where people have been allowed to meet up, the beaches, and parks, the main growth is in litter. People do not take their rubbish home with them. Why are humans such a filthy, messy, species. I thought we were giving the earth breathing space. But people’s ethos seems to be having what they want, and ignoring the damage they create.
I don’t think humans deserve this wonderful world. Really.
A few flowers from the garden today. The flowers are starting to develop, the big summer plants are a bit swamped with ivy and scrubby bushes and so we have cut back branches and peeled ivy off trees a bit today. Only what you can do with a pair of secateurs and a small pruning saw.
We need to lay some pathways, and where a spring has erupted in the garden we are going to put a few pebbles to simulate a stream flowing down under the hedge. We live on a hill which is a very old Volcanic plug. The water percolates out further up the hill and we think because that was built on a few years ago it might have got diverted down towards our house. I don’t know….
We have to put a piece of wood under one bough of the pear tree but in the strong winds last week we had to put step ladders under the other limb. Surprisingly there are lots of pears setting on it. It may be that it’s because it’s more horizontal and fruit does tend to set (develop) on horizontal branches. Thats why some fruit trees are tied onto walls. Is it called espalies?
The cherry tree behind it is also covered in fruit. Looks like it might be a bumper crop! The bush/tree cut in step shapes is an old evergreen we have had for years. It grows slowly and I practice topiary on it. The rest of the garden is very leafy. I’m going to have to get someone in in the autumn or winter, to cut things back slightly and let a bit more light in.
I am just putting my phone on charge and I looked up and saw the light from the back door porch shining through and reflecting off the walls and the windows. As you can see I’m growing a lot of Christmas cacti and other plants including a baby oak and a sweet pepper plant on the windowsill. There are also glass mobiles hanging up there. Why? Because I got burgled twenty years ago and as well as an alarm I decided to make it as awkward as possible for anyone to try an climb through a window without knocking stuff off.
I think this might eventually turn into a painting. Night all
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Mallaband-Brown