MY DOORSTEP

The sun shone today and the rain held off, so I braved the Autumn chill and sat upon my doorstep for a while with a sketchbook and my Lamy fountain pen filled with red/black Noodler's ink.
The apple tree has struggled for light with the climbing rose bush and the laurel this year, both need a good trim. However, against all the odds, it has produced a little fruit.
I picked one of these rough, miss-shaped beauties today and plopped it next to some bright, plump berries to create the sketch above.

My attention then turned to my parents house. Just across the yard with nothing and nobody between us but grass and hedge, my children have enjoyed the freedom of being able to safely pass between the two homes throughout their childhood.

MY GARDEN

7.45pm this evening, sitting in the doorway of the studio looking out onto my garden across the deck.

'Like a finely tuned orchestra, my garden plays a never ending concerto . The birds sing unashamedly, calling those they love, while the fish in the pond plop vicariously providing a deep bass.
Machinery long gone from the fields - nature reunites with her rightful territory and one can't help becoming lost in her song!'

MY GARDEN

Pigment liner and watercolour in A6 Venezia sketchbook

The good weather continued today until thunder storms took over at around 3pm. So, I took a chair into the yard side of the studio, behind the summerhouses, and sketched my gorgeous haven of creativity.

I do not usually see this view, I enter from a door on the garden side and when I throw the French doors open and sketch from the small patio I usually face out towards the Fens, it made a nice change...I could stare at her all day!

I moved into my studio last August, such an exciting time...I still feel those same butterflies, as I pass through the lavender and step onto the deck that leads to her, even now.

MY GARDEN

Pigment liner and watercolour

Had a few moments spare this morning before my life class and took full advantage of the temporary sunshine with my coffee and sketchbook. It's hard to believe this evening, now the thunder and rain have won battle with the huge Fenland skies, but my few stolen moments with the bees and butterflies make the crashes of the night seem a little more bearable.

MY GARDEN

Ta da!

Added colour to my pond sketch in the studio last night after taking mental notes on colour and reflection while in the garden yesterday.

I have to say I really enjoy using the Venezia sketchbooks and they look so pretty with their red, chequered covers. The paper receives ink well and watercolour remains bright after drying.
I have been using many different sketchbooks this summer, a sort of test to find their uses and disadvantages so I can perhaps select one and keep everything together working page to page from day to day, so far, I find myself steering between the Venezia and the Winsor & Newton heavyweight. The W&N takes everything I have thrown at it with ease but I like the texture in the Venezia for watercolours. Then there is the moleskin sketchbooks...Excellent to scan, lie nice and flat when working, a dream with coloured pencils but not so good for watercolour. I tried the large watercolour moleskin, I'm not so keen on the landscape format and didn't like using the brushpen and watercolour pencils in it much, the paper seemed to stain very easily, but just recently I used my pans in it and it was much better, nice infact!

Decisions, decisions!

For now, I shall feast among the varied haven of sketchbooks in my studio and just enjoy!

MY GARDEN

My garden because I made it!

Just 4 years ago the whole area I now call home was nothing more than thistle and stinging nettle, dense, tall and spiteful. It has taken a lot of hard work and many a lavender bath to get to this stage but the benefits are worth every sore moment.
I started with the borders at the front of my home first and they are now well developed and relatively easy to manage.



The addition of the summerhouses have proved to be such a focal point.



The back borders are a little newer, while they are already beautifully developed, the weeds have yet to bow to my authority and the fact that I have neglected this area of the garden so far this summer has not helped at all. Today I put a few hours in and filled my trolley to overflowing from just a 2ft square patch!



No garden would be worth all the hard work unless you could afford a few moments each day to enjoy it, so this afternoon I took position on my sun lounger, between a cloud of lavender and a burst of poppies, in front of the pond and created the sketch below.

Noodler's Ink-A6 Venzia Sketchbook

I plan to colour it in the studio later this evening when Sunday lunch is all cleaned up and my laundry is up to date....oh yes, and I have soaked my sore, tired muscles in a deep lavender bath!

MY GARDEN

A very quick sketch of the statue that sits on my rockery leading towards the summerhouses.

MY GARDEN

Ink and watercolour in A6 Venezia sketchbook

“The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Me?...I am an optimist...There are no thorns on my rose!

I was elated to be able to enjoy the garden for a spell today after the incessant rain that has tormented each passing day. Everything, including the weeds, looked luscious and green against the blues and purples flowering in the beds below them. Thistles stood proud, claiming their spot in my absence, displaying their sharpness smugly as if to realise their victory. The damp ground beneath my feet played a melody upon the soles of my old suede friends and the sky, busy with birds and a valiant butterfly, carried the sweet smell of life.

MY GARDEN

The new steps leading up to my front door where a porch is currently being built and the little shed, where my freezer and laundry facilities live, create an interesting frame for the view across the Fens from this angle in my garden. The telegraph pole is my only obstacle for miles allowing me to view the seasons as they play with the landscape.
This is where the sun sets, delivering endless drama night after night, from pink, candy cane stripes to the roaring flames of hell itself before tucking it's weary head beneath the crops.

MY GARDEN

The weather here in the Fens has been dismal recently, making it impossible to get out on location with my sketchbooks and the forecast for today was much the same.
So, after finishing a lily study in the studio last night I decided to make a grid in my garden sketchbook and make good use of the sunny intervals between the rainfalls the next day.

Around midday I was lucky enough to capture around twenty minutes of constant dry weather and, to celebrate, threw my French doors open in the studio and made a sketch of the old barn opposite. My studio sits on a spot that once belonged to another barn much the same as this one, before we pulled it to the ground to make way for the new, thick concrete base. I have no regrets, I love my new studio, but it's nice to have one of these old characters still watching over the yard.



Gradually, I managed to fill my grid. One before lunch, two after, one after the school run and another before dinner. I decided to keep them simple and add a splash of my favourite garden colours as a background to set them off.

MY GARDEN

Pigment liner & watercolour: A6 Venezia sketchbook

Just outside and to the left of my bedroom window sit my summerhouses, raised on a decked platform, surrounded by lavender, shrubs and wild flowers.

The railway sleepers add a rustic edge to the surrounding, contemporary gravel and the remnants of forgotten buildings lie to the right of the summerhouse, providing the perfect crutch for rockery plants...their whispers echoing through the hollow depths.

The step up onto the deck leads the way to my studio with a view out to the small pond and rear flower beds. Periwinkle weaves it's way through the darkness beneath the decking, popping up randomly as if to take a deep breath. Jasmine hugs at the lavender and winds it's clutches around the magnolia like an infant dependant on it's Mother, yearning to be held...to be loved.

MY GARDEN

Pigment liner & watercolour: A6 Venezia sketchbook

Today's location was my garden.

Everything in the garden seems to be blooming early and it's looking so pretty I decided to take a few moments today to create a sketch. I chose 'Charlie', the statue I purchased in memory of my Nephew. The statue is usually known as 'The whistling boy' and he stands proudly in the corner beside my laundry shed, underneath an apple tree and climbing rose which births cream blooms that turn a shade of yellow with age. The Spring bulbs are now fading soon to be replaced with delphiniums and Jacobs ladder in hues of purple and blue. A dash of red breaks the green of the laurel bush when the redcurrants ripen and a hoard of butterflies, bees and birds keep Charlie company throughout the year, as was my intention. Various shells from our visits to the beach decorate the soil surrounding the base of the column upon which Charlie stands, as well as 'gems' my youngest finds in the yard, such as feathers and fossils.

It is a beautiful corner in the garden, in full view from the house and yet safe from human footsteps.