Blackwood & the Garden of St Erth

The Garden of St Erth, Blackwood 

 

The small township of Blackwood

One of the nice things about moving to a new area is the opportunity to head out and explore new places, and last weekend we ventured out for the day to the Garden of St Erth at Blackwood.  Nestled in the Wombat State Forest, Blackwood is a very small little township with just a local pub and cute cafe / deli punctuating the quiet streets, the main reason to visit Blackwood however is the lovely garden of St Erth.

The gardens are situated up a winding and hilly road, but once arrived you're rewarded by a very pretty 1860's sandstone building and several garden spaces housing a mix of drought tolerant flowers and plants, alongside fruit trees and organic vegetables (including many heirloom varieties).  The home-grown produce is put to good use at the rather delicious St Erth cafe where it's imperative to partake in a cup of tea (Earl Grey of course) and whatever yummy home-made cake is on offer! 

There's a little nursery on-site for seeds and plants (including some of the heirloom varieties) and it's also home to The Diggers Club which promotes sustainable gardening practices.  It was a lovely lazy day and perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday.            

Spring lovelyness

Nature at her best and showing off her latest spring collection

 

The Jolly cat and Mr J also enjoying the spring sunshine

Ahhhh, Spring has finally arrived (although it seems to have disappeared again this weekend) and I've been loving the sunshine and all the changes to the garden it brings. 

We're really lucky that the house we've temporarily moved to has a beautiful established garden (along with two gardener's - woo hoo!) and it's been magical watching the changes to the garden in just a few short weeks of sunshine and warmer weather.

Rather like a fashion designer and a model, spring and nature have collaborated to create their latest 2012 garden collection..... Bare spiky tree branches have adorned spring cardigans of bright green leaves.  Plain, skinny and angular rose bushes have slipped on ball gowns of flourishing glossy new growth.  Small tightly wrapped buds have burst open into ballerina-style tutu's and garden beds have been accessorised with a mass of colourful foliage and decorative floral jewels.

I'm always in awe of nature at work, her ability to create such harmony of colour, the detail and intricacy she puts into each petal and leaf, and the seemingly perfect use of symmetry and repetition.  I'll happily pass on a Gucci, Prada or Versace in exchange for a spring design by nature any day.

Abstract floral illustrations

Preliminary flower bouquet sketch (above) and work in progress below  

One of my recent freelance projects has been a commission for some abstract watercolour floral bouquets.  Whilst not to give too much away, here is a little preview of one of the bouquets as a sketch prior to painting, and another bouquet interpreted in a freestyle, washy, watercolour style.

It's a freelance project I've been quite frustrated with - I loved the brief I received and was really excited to be painting in a medium and style I love.  The trouble is I had a really clear picture in my mind of what I wanted to achieve and how I wanted to capture the floral bouquets - but my hand just didn't quite paint what my mind envisaged!

I'm quite a perfectionist and it's really bothered me that I didn't quite create the artwork how I imagined.  I'd like to rewind time and having painted all the artwork once, give it another go but this time with the advantage of knowing where I went wrong.  I guess that's a bit like life in general really!...   

Inky florals

Inky florals painted with food colour!

It's been a busy few weeks and amongst other things I've had a few freelance jobs on the go.  One of which has been an inky floral design for textile application.  The final artwork was to be black and white, but I painted the original artwork using blue food colour! 

I experimented with a few different inks, but I really liked the effect of the food colour and decided to paint the flowers using the blue food colour, and alter the finished artwork to black and white on the computer.

I've painted with food colour before - and it gives surprisingly good results!  You can mix the four basic colours they come in (yellow, blue, red and green) and the added bonus is you can bleach out food colour, which you can't do with many professional artists inks.  It's amazing the results you can acheive from a little bit of experimentation with a kitchen cupboard staple. 

Painterly florals

Preliminary flower sketches 

 

I've been flat out these past few months with various freelance design projects on the go, including several hand-painted floral artworks for textile and ceramic application.

The illustrations have all been painted in watercolours onto medium textured watercolour paper, they were originally sketched out in pencil before being painted - with the exception of the last image where I painted directly onto the paper without any sketching beforehand.  I love the really relaxed effect achieved when I paint 'freehand', but it depends if the client wants this style of casual artwork or something a little more formal and structured as per the other illustrations.

With the hand-painted illustrations I normally scan the artwork into Photoshop where I can then manipulate the scale of the artwork and create the design placements for the actual products. 

I'm also working on some Christmas designs for the end of this year, which will be applied onto tableware - so I'd best get on with these and stop procrastinating by blogging!

It feels like spring....

With the lovely sunshine and mild weather we've had recently I've been fooling myself that it's spring already!  My plants are also thinking spring has arrived, with lovely colourful flowers and new growth appearing. 

I treated myself to a new camera several weeks ago (although I wish I'd  got round to doing this before the end of the tax year!) so I decided to take some practise shots in the garden and capture the wonderful colours nature so perfectly creates.

A big thank you must go to Jess from Skip Town for her fab online camera tips - very handy!  You can see her recommendations for choosing the right camera here.  (The camera I bought was a Lumix DMC LX5)

Funky floral fabrics

I've found some funky retro floral fabrics and tablecloths at various second hand shops recently....

This cute little seersucker fabric with simplified orange florals was from the local Vinnies.

This gorgeous tablecloth was picked up from the Mornington Antiques Centre closing day sale.  I love the overscaled bold flower pattern, and the mustard and olive colours.  Its a lovely soft drapey cloth too.  I need to find a table now to use it on!

This fabric featuring giant yellow, orange and brown flowers and leaves is also a tablecloth.  I love the linear detail with this floral print, and the bold scale keeps it really fun!

Poppy illustrations

I loved seeing the statuesque poppies in the Burnett Gallery & Garden in Castlemaine, and it reminded me of some poppy illustrations I painted a while ago.  The illustrations above were all painted in watercolours as it's a perfect medium to encapsulate their delicate papery petals.

Castlemaine's Festival of Gardens - part 1

I had a lovely day on Sunday visiting beautiful Castlemaine and it's Festival of Gardens. The open garden festival is a bi-annual event running over two consecutive weekends, and features some stunning gardens! 

I am going to have to do this post in two parts - I took heaps of pictures and am finding it very hard to cull the images!  This first part is the beautiful rambling country garden of the Burnett Gallery & Garden.

 The Burnett Gallery & Garden features a beautiful old traditional brick house, with a very long garden stratching down to a creek.  

 

 

The garden was a fabulous riot of colour, texture and pattern - nature at her absolute finest showing off her creations in all their glory!  I love these purple Irises with their delicate watercolour petals. 

 

 

I fell in love with this garden, partly because it reminded me of a very English country garden.  The garden had a wildness to it - it wasn't too structured or perfect, with a mix of flowers and plants jostling for space.

 

 

I'm such a fan of poppies in a garden with their intense colour, tall gangly structure and beautiful large papery petals.  Even the seed pods have a wonderful sculptural quality to them.

 

 

I also love blue flowers in a garden, so calming and the blue tones are off set perfectly against the yellow-green leaves. 

 

 

 

 

A perfect spot to sit and soak up the sun and the beautiful surroundings.  Sooo lovely....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kangaroo sculptures in the garden made from old corrugated iron sheets.  Cute!