More Autumn colour to enjoy

The garden is definitely changing and autumn colour is more in evidence.  I was stopped in my tracks by the fiery combinations of leaf colour from the blueberry Goldtraube and hydrangea Pinky Winky on the patio.  I had to rush in for my camera. 

Smaller things are also bringing joy with this little cyclamen. The others finished flowering a while ago, but this one is having a late flush.  I do like its crinkly-edged leaves too. 

The salvias are still flowering as well.  Above is Cerro Potosi with its bright fuchsia flowers. This one is in a pot and I really should get it planted in the border.

This is another salvia Cerro Potosi which is planted in the border and which has decided to grow up through the magnolia. 

Here it is again, with the last few cosmos and helianthus flowers.  I have been planting some bulbs and gathering leaves for leaf mould.  I expect I will be able to gather up a few more this week too.

More cards

As you know, being able to make cards for people is something I really enjoy.  This card was tailored for a friend who has a big birthday this year and includes lots of things she likes, such as travelling, gardens, flowers, cups of tea/coffee, reading, embroidery, painting and cats. I also found a page from a class register in a digital kit which I used for the background, as we worked together as teaching assistants, and a couple of dictionary definitions for children and grandchildren.   

The back of the card symbolises the travels she has been on as her husband is a keen birdwatcher!

This was the other card I made for her, as she liked a page like this that I had done in a journal, so I reproduced it for her.

Men's cards are always a little trickier, so I do keep an eye out for stamps or stencils that would work well.  Geometric shapes are usually a good choice.  This is one of the Sizzix stencils I bought in August - you can see them here. 

This was for my nephew.  

This was for my sister who has seen some of the slow drawings I do and so I thought I should use them for her card.  I have a box full of these little drawings/paintings, so it is good to be able to use them.

I have some cards to make for November birthdays, so will need to get on with them next.

Wanderlust 2025 - part three

Here are my favourite pieces from the last twelve weeks of the art journaling course, Wanderlust 2025.  The broad theme was 'Storytelling' and within that, we had 'Journaling', 'Capturing Moments' and 'Taking Inspiration'.  Above was all about gratitude and using different ways to capture things we were grateful for.  I used a die I bought earlier this year to make the mini clipboard and a die for the paperclip. 

More journaling opportunities with this page. I used a napkin for the flowers.  Simple, but enjoyable. 

I think this was a 'capturing moments' lesson.  We used a photo and then drew the image on tracing paper.  The flower is one of my cosmos flowers. 

I used magazine transfer for this page.  The magazine images didn't really like the textured watercolour card page, but it gives a faded and worn look , which I like.  The images are of the Eden project in Cornwall and views of Florence and Rome, all places I have visited. The birds stamp is one I have cut from lino and it is one of my favourites to use.  The word is also a transfer, using magazine letters onto sticky tape, which was a new technique to me.

Memories of a holiday to Egypt turned into the next page, with tickets, money, and photos.

We looked at Expressionist artists as the inspiration for this piece.  We were asked to just go with our intuition and not worry what the image was going to be.  You can see the Van Gogh influence in the lines here, I think.  I am still not sure what the three hill shapes mean, but I enjoyed the process of this one. I think the face is somewhat enigmatic too.  

We chose a favourite poem or song lyric as the inspiration for this page.  Mine is 'The Way through the Woods' by Rudyard Kipling.  Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the process on this one too and am pleased with the end result. 

Finally, this interesting page.  This is very much in Dyan Reaveley's style (she was the teacher for this one) and she does have a recognisable style in her work.  She told us about something she does every six months or so, which is to go through magazines and pull out pictures which appeal. It should be an intuitive process. My pictures include cake, gardening equipment, flowers, a woman reading, a pen, a vase, a mug, some blue glass, a cat face, a silk scarf and some jewellery.  It depends what magazines you have used for the images you might find.  I loved creating the collage, although it took a bit of time to get it right and I had to take a photo of it  before I started glueing things down. 

On to the last twelve weeks of this year's course - the broad theme is 'Leaps and Bounds'.

Autumn is here

Autumn is definitely flexing its muscles and the garden is reacting.  While there is still lots of colour, leaves are changing, like those of the blueberry above. 

This is Symphyotrichum (Aster) Little Carlow which is covered in powdery mildew thanks to being too dry at its roots, but the flowers are looking pretty. 

Hydrangea Bobo also got too dry and has taken all summer to actually flower.  Now its leaves are beautiful shades or orange and red...

...fiery and gorgeous!

However, the flowers are still quite a pristine white, with touches of pink on the edges.  It makes quite a combination with the leaves.

Other hydrangeas - these are Magical Revolution ones - are turning their red tones.

Here you can see various shades on the different flowers.

Rose Dannahue is bringing a lot of joy with its pretty apricot flowers.

How's this for an eye catching duo?  Symphyotrichum (Aster) Mrs S T Wright and September Ruby. These are seedlings from the original plants and have planted themselves here, but they look good together, so I have left them.

Resilience in the garden (part two)

Following on from my previous post, here are a few more plants which have done well during this hot and dry summer.  Above is Clematis heracleifolia Wyevvale, which is a perennial non-clingy herbaceous plant.  This one is in a pot, so it has been watered this summer, but I divided it in the Spring and put the division into the border and that has not had any extra water.  It has pretty blue/purple flowers and a scent which reminds me of soap.  Not unpleasant, just soapy.

This is Clemaris heracleifolia New Love which is in the border and had no extra water. It has flowered for a long time and is still going strong. 

I forgot to put this photo in my previous post - this is the back of a flower of Japanese Anemone Ruffled Swan - so pretty.

The ever reliable Asters or Symphyotrichum as they have been re-named (they will remain asters to me as it's much easier to say and spell!).  Above is Aster/Symphyotrichum novae-angliae September Ruby.  I love the helpful way their flower centres change colour once the pollen is gone.

Here is  Aster/Symphyotrichum novae-angliae Mrs S T Wright.  These two are great and don't get the powdery mildew that others may succumb to (yes, Aster/Symphyotrichum Little Carlow, I'm looking at you! To be fair, that plant is probably planted in the wrong place with not enough moisture at the roots...)

Liriope Muscari is the unsung hero in my north facing border. It is reliable, comes back every year, (needs dividing, but I am a bit worried about doing that in case it upsets it) and gives me the green strappy leaves to enjoy as well as these purple flower spires at this time of year.  

The flowers are really interesting too. 

Hydrangea Arborescens Annabelle, my favourite hydrangea, who usually appears on this blog at least once a year, will not be making an appearance. The heat and lack of water did her no favours and she is a shadow of her former self.  I may have to address that for next year...

Resilience in the garden (part one)

 It has been another hot summer (for the UK), with very little rain.  I have again been surprised by the resilience of some plants, so here's the ones that have done well, with either no or very little extra water. 

I know that cyclamen hederifolium are late summer/autumn flowering anyway, but they are very reliable plants.

The japanese anemones have done well, also late summer flowering plants.  Above from left, going clockwise are Pretty Lady Susan, Ruffled Swan, Bressingham Glow and Pretty Lady Maria.  Bressingham Glow has been flowering since July.

(Photo collages created with https://www.photojoiner.com/ )

Salvias have also done well.  Three of these are in pots and the Salvia Amistad (top left) came through the winter. Hot Lips (top right) is ubiquitous, but rightly so. I bought it for the allotment, but am thinking I may keep it! The white one (bottom right) is one I bought about a month ago.  Peach Sorbet (bottom left) is planted in the border and has coped pretty well in a very dry border. 

Helianthus Lemon Queen is a reliable, tough plant but can be a bit of a thug, although it hasn't been in this garden.  It is very happy now that the big rose bush has gone and is looking good.

Finally for this post is a Hibiscus. This is planted in the sunniest (and driest) part of the garden and has been flowering for over a month now. It hasn't had any extra water. This particular plant is the triple one, bu I have only seen two different varieties this year - a pink and this white/pink one. The flowers look so delicate and exotic but it is a tough shrub.  More good value, reliable and resilient plants in my next post. 

Slow Drawing journal - double page spreads

Following on from my previous blog post about slow drawing, I have been working on a journal to put some of my slow drawing pieces into for a little while now. It's one of those things that I do every now and again.  There are lots of interactive bits, like flaps, doors, pockets, windows etc, but I have a number of double page spreads that I would like to decorate without any of these, as the journal is getting quite chunky!  So I decided to use some of my favourite patterns.  Above is Poppy.

If I have the name of the pattern, I will add it in. This is Burst.  I really enjoy slow drawing as it uses minimal supplies (watercolour card, pen, ink, watercolours) and the whole point is to slow down and concentrate on what you are doing.

This doesn't have a name, just marks made with a paintbrush.  

Here is Blossom. I really enjoy patterns like this with lots of repetitive lines.

This is one of my own patterns, although no doubt influenced by other slow drawing patterns.

Here is Crowd, which took me about three or four sessions to complete as I needed to rest my eyes often.  It does look really good though.

This is Artichoke.  I enjoyed how this pattern seemed to move depending how I drew the shapes.

This was a Youtube video pattern and I am not sure what the name is.

Here is a bigger version of the Dot one I did for the Smallest Things challenge.

Finally, we have Holes, done with a nice fat Quill brush, which gave the thin and thicker lines.  It reminds me of water drops.

I still have another eight double pages to fill, so I shall keep going!