Echinacea

Echincea seem to be flourishing in our garden at the present. So Ive taken the oppertunity to photograph them from a varity of angles, as well as cut a few to bring in doors and study. These prickly little fellows are interesting to draw, especially in varying light, although they can be a bit of a challenge!

Garden Progress

Having lived at my current house for almost 2 years now it is interesting to observe the development of my favourite space, and how much its changed since we arrived and started making our mark.
Much of the hard work is down to the keen gardener of the house, my mother, but I have contributed with a few purchases, and the new found use of my ebay account to order seeds.

The top image was taken 2 days before we moved in. Largely lawn with small borders, largely empty. The garden became spruced up, but still rather bare. Winter turned it into a lifeless and rather bleek place, save for the Holly bush, and sadly caused the demise of our palm tree.
Beyond saving the palm tree has now been felled. Arches continue to spring into life, more borders are added and the lawn appears ever shrinking. The last image was taken in mid July. We have also taken delivery of a half sized green house, but thats yet to be snapped.

Its wonderful to finally see the garden establishing itself and becoming wild and blooming, credit due to my mother of course.

Documenting Nature

As nature seems to move faster than I can keep up with I am largely relying on my camera to keep me up to speed with the developments in my garden.
Almost every day I ferrit around in the garden, looking for new arrivals sprouting, blooming or dying. Summer seems to be a constant barrage of new flowers springing up left and right, my drawing skills would be in overdrive if I tried to study everything first hand, so Im relying on detailed images of every plants stages of growth for refrence when the flowers are long gone. Here are a few of the more artistic results: (Its bees galore at the moment, which Im enjoying)

London

While in London for High Voltage festival, I also decided to soak up some culture in the big city.
Despite having visited many galleries and exhibitions in my years, Ive never actually been to the National Gallery. So a few hours were devoted to soaking up some inspiration in the Gallery.

It felt rather bizarre seeing paintings that I have studied and analysed for many years in the flesh. I can see why my old art teacher Dave Ashman encouraged us to take the time to see the paintings up close, not just in books (even though we were all headstrong enough to think we knew best).
Degas, Monet and Manet were all a delight to behold. But the biggest impact was made on me by someone I had not expected to be gobsmacked by. Turner. I dont think Id ever quite appreciated Turner, but seeing the texture of the paint seemed to make all the difference, and 'Ulysses deriding Polyphemus' had me fascinated for some time.

An enjoyable experience, and I regret I have never been before. I cant say I enjoyed the crowds of people and all the noise. Alot of rudeness Im sad to say, and people being far more indulgent in their personal frivolities than in art ... Oh well, I dont suppose every gallery can be akin to a library (sadly).

Festival Season

Its the time of year when I allow myself my a 'holiday', in the form of a few Rock festivals over the summer. This year Rock and Bike Fest and High Voltage are in my list of achievements so far, and Bloodstock is still to look forward to.

To my surprise at High Voltage festival I met an artist whose work has inspired me from the time I could pick up a book, and changed my life in many ways. Rodney Matthews's work has always fascinated me, and continues to do so. Talking to him was an utter pleasure.

If youve never seen Rodney's work, check him out at:
http://www.rodneymatthews.com/main.htm