Archive
Autumn colour bling
5″ x 7″ approx A5
These pompom dahlias are so bright it almost hurts the eye. I sketched them last week- it was so mild they are sitting on top of the stove which was clearly not needed. I was lucky enough to be invited to pick some of the seasons end prize winning dahlias by one of the best allotment holders.
#234
Autumn moves swiftly on………..
This has been such an odd autumn; it seems to have been divided into two halves, the crisp bright extra summer of September and then the relentless rain of autumn for this month. I remember arriving at university for the first time in October and the campus was glowing with autumn sunshine that year. The roundabout in front of the hall of residence had a glorious clump of frail but bold autumn crocus …at least twice the size of their spring cousins. How much gloomier it is to make a new start in the drab rain of this autumn, if the crocus are still there they will plastered to the mud and eaten by slugs or woodlice. This morning however the rain is absent and the sun is making the leaves reflect their subtle changes against a fresh blue sky.
It’s time to plant some bulbs, I have white hyacinth to bed out and white alliums together with dwarf iris, species tulips and some extra Tulipa New Design. Both bulb orders came with free offers so I have in addition some daffodils and extra iris. For my birthday I asked for Sempervivens and a pot to put them in …I got the pot and as luck would have it Lidl were selling six packs of Sempervivens for £5. I will probably under plant with dwarf iris as the leaves will not make a squidgy mess when the flowers are finished.
I have been to London to attend the private view of the Society for Graphic Fine Art Open. It has been very interesting, it could be a society to try and join in order to exhibit on a regular basis. However there are the economics to consider…my current pictures are quite small and therefore must have a smaller price tag but membership and the hanging fees are flat rate (up to a certain point) so doing only smaller works is therefore not as cost efficient as larger works could be, on the other hand reasonably priced smaller works must sell better on average as more people will consider them affordable. It would be good to make my hobby pay some of its own costs. I loved an etching of a prawn in the exhibition- wonderful lines and sugar lift which has an effect I really love. Naturally the only plate I used it on was one which I never did get to come right!
Stags horn fern and stag beetles come to mind looking at these- drawn approx. life size on cartridge with ink, pencil and coloured crayons.
Some time back I found an odd cluster of hazelnuts which were more baroque than the normal variant. This year I found the tree that they come from and have identified it as Turkish hazel, I wondered then if it might be drawn in ink and here are some bits from my sketch book (above). Previous sketch: https://lemonaday.com/2011/11/11/hazelnut-cluster/ #232
Pembrokeshire-Newport market day
7″ x 9″ approx
This sketch was done during a coffee break in a tiny coffee shop on the street where they hold a small market in Newport Pembrokeshire. It is a beautiful place and many thanks to friend and friend of friend who made it possible for me to visit. Thanks too for the patience of the other coffee drinkers and Ted too of course. There were lots of lovely things to be had in Newport….Cawl a lovely rich homemade soup served with bread and cheese in the pub and the pollack mackerel, crab and lobster caught and swopped by other people in the house.
#231
The aspen leaf in the wrong place
size 7″ x 9 ”
After noticing that I did not like the position of the aspen leaf in the previous sketch I sat on the banks of the Seine on the next day and sketched this aspen leaf so that, should I rework the landscape picture, I have a reference for the leaf. People in the house in Pembrokeshire liked the leaf as is.
Been Away…came back.
size 7″ x 9″ approx
There is an odd way in which it is sometimes easier to do the best things on holiday……I think on the whole it is the lack of computer and kitchen + garden + children distractions that help.
We went to Normandy and then I went alone to Newport Pembrokeshire.
In Normandy we went to two gardens Giverny and Chateau Canon about three hours drive apart but so different. Giverny is stuffed with flowers and visitors and I do mean stuffed. There are crowds of five or six drifting across the Japanese bridge all the time. The only quiet places are those not photogenic enough to attract the groups taking photographs of each other with a Monet painting backdrop in the style of a wedding photographer. “Could we have the couple, in four poses, best friends can join them now, can we have the friends on their own now, one with the tour leader perhaps?
Best quote of the day in an American east Coast accent” I don’t know what language you are gabbling at me in, but I am not listening to any of it!”
Talking to one of the gardeners I discovered that they operate on multiple plantings: they empty the beds in November and plant up with tulips and spring stuff all quite short then in early summer they replant and later they supplement with a rich mixture of Dahlias, Tithonias, Hibiscus and so on; the grassy bits are full of Colchicums variety Waterlily featured of course! There were lush salvias of the Mexican sort and the brightest Solanum I had ever seen. *
It was far too hot and crowded to paint there, I did try but it was hopeless. However at Chateau Canon the atmosphere was calm and tranquil and the garden has progressed since we last visited, then things looked precarious after the Boxing Day storm had brought trees crashing through the walls. It is a garden made during the transition from French formality to English romanticism, the best part is a Chartreuse- a series of interlinked walled gardens which were built to grow fruit. There is still much to restore but it is beautiful. I have never seen such gorgeous rainbow trout 18 inches long in perfect clear water.
The picture is of the view along a decorative canal towards a rope bridge, they have a children’s farm and mini parc-cours along with tree houses you can stay the night in- the higher up they are the more they cost to hire! This last part is all new to us and very popular but as it is away from the gardens it does not affect them.
I should never have added the pretty yellow aspen leaf it does not compose.
* added later: Solanum wendlandii from Costa Rica I think, its showy in a good way.
Spotted leaf-a painting a day
4″ x 2″ 10cm x 5cm approx
Another in the leaf series. Took a walk today inthe woods , wonderful sunshine cutting across the landscape and reaching right into the woodland. It was warm enough to lift the scent of the Daphne bhuloa allowing it to drift along paths and avenues from where it called me like a siren might a sailor. Silly to plant it next to the wintersweet with its less exotic smell I thought, a mistake I have also made -I realised as I got home.
#191
Lemon yellow and pink, leaves.
detail of ” Lemon yellow and pink, leaves.”
These are the leaves of one of the lacecap hydrangeas , there is something quite surreal about their pink flush on lemon yellow. A painting which is larger than most of those in this blog, it measures :
22cm x 30cm 9″ x 12″ approx.
#183
Maple leaves – a painting a day
This painting has been framed and is for sale at Burgess Hill Open Houses see blog for June 4th
size 5 in x 4.5 in, 13cm x 12cm
These are leaves which I picked up the day the car went for repair last week. They are starting to curl and dry out indoors.
No1 son came home looking cheerful and well although the journey home had taken three hours longer than it was supposed to because the sea was too rough for the ferry to take them off Arran. His clothes washing requirements were remarkably light as it seemed he had spent most of the week in the one outfit. In fairness he had changed his socks more than twice! He had obviously enjoyed the chocolate brownies as there were chocolate cake crumbs scattered throughout his day bag.
The decorator arrived this morning as arranged and DIY Dad has been in a frenzy of activity involving his latest tool the mighty mitre saw. The decorator would obviously prefer it if the skirting boards are in place before he gets to them.
The garden is looking very dismal, things are collapsing in dark rotting heaps; looking for some flowers the other day was very depressing the roses that have been visible through the back door look tatty close up, I found one stem in a more sheltered area, a single decent stem of snowberry and one of Shizostylis which has left it rather too late to flower.
#154 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Berries, Feather, Maple leaf – a painting a day
size 6 in x 9 in, 15cm x 24cm
I found the most extraordinary picture on the web it is by an artist from Myanmar or Burma, Win Pe Myint, he is both a painter and a Botanist as I am. It has, I am sure, a wealth of story in the objects chosen. The postcard in the foreground is Picasso’s ‘ Acrobat with Ball’, it has the most concentrated air of still contemplation I have seen in a picture, and it has a very quiet lemon in there too.
Here is the link:
Yesterdays picture is another in the series of things picked up in this autumn, here are some berries, the feather of a green woodpecker and a distorted maple leaf. I am putting all of these for sale on my Lemonaday-shop as it forms a permanent Gallery. Or rather it should do, having checked the links they all seem to have broken.
No1 son should return today, I dread to think what state he will be in the weather has been foul for the last two days. Still no news could be good news…
153 a painting a day or three a month if you are lucky
Autumn leaves , Beech, Hornbeam, Beech – a painting a day
This painting has been framed and is for sale
size 6 in x 9 in, 15cm x 24cm
No1 son has gone off to the frozen North to look at rivers. I am feeling slightly anxious about this as there really is snow forecast for Monday on the teeth of a gale. He is not designed for heat retention being extremely thin, also he never thinks it’s a good idea to put any thought into dressing for the weather.
The leaves are all falling in great heaps now; there is a job for months, if not life ,out there on my own back lawn. I dug out a bag of old leaf mould the other day and it proves it is worth collecting and composting the leaves. I have enough to layer it six inches deep on the new bed (which needs it as it’s very clayish).
The painting is of some richly coloured Beech leaves with, I think, a Hornbeam leaf in the middle.
#151 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Lemon a day 