From plot to paint

Inspired by my own gardening, reading The Adorable Plot and the mini painting class I took with Jenny Muncaster, I spent an afternoon capturing some of my own garden.

sweet peas, hollyhocks, marigolds, sweet williams and nepeta

I’m not a big fan of acrylic paints because of the waxy feel and the irreversible nature of them once dry but I am determined to to try and see why other people favour them so I keep having a go from time to time.

purple sprouting broccoli with lovely acid yellow flowers

I liked Jenny’s technique based approach and so I flicked, masked and dropped water to create textured effects and used painted papers to collage. It is such a fun way to work and makes me think that my normal approach to painting a still life might be a tad serious.

pea canes dripping with pods

I like these for feeling I associate with the creation of them.

Garden makeover

One of things that I have enjoyed a lot this summer, has been pottering about in our newly made-over vegetable garden.

July 2012

Back last year we began the job of raising the bottom half of our garden down to the ground and clearing it. Rotivation, plastic sheeting and four teenagers barrowing nine tonnes of pebbles onto it saw it transformed.

April 2013

The raised beds were brought with us from our old house where they had been our first vegetable garden, and if I had time to tell you the long story about acquiring those reclaimed pieces of railway sleeper and old church pews, then you would probably understand why it was worth the effort to relocate them here.

Lottie inspecting the progress – April 2013

Then we left it over the winter and so this spring we only had the fun jobs left of planting up.

July 2013

In went four separate sowings of potatoes, a row of raspberry canes, some perpetual spinach (in fact I wish it would stop now !)

peas and broad beans, salad crops, cabbage, courgettes, sprouting brocoli (great for the butterflies but not the dinner table) and a cottage garden of lupins, hollyhocks, sweet williams, marigolds and sweet peas.

I confess to starting with ready sown plants to get a head start and avoid crushing disappointments but other than that no intervention has taken place and it’s grown tall and fruited as it should.

Broad bean harvest no 1

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.
Alfred Austin

the chillout zone

There is a certain satisfaction in growing things and being outside working and I’m not sure I could articulate why its good for the soul, but it is.

July 2013

Potatoes in old black dustbins. They grow well and are easy to harvest – just tip them up!

July 2013

 I confess to having already planned and bought next years seeds. I feel I could be showing my age now that I’m happy to go to bed with the Sarah Raven catalogue and dream of gardening!