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

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

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.