In the Studio

Paintings are building up in the studio, getting a little bit excited and a little bit worried!!

A closer look at one of the small paintings, they are 30cm x 30cm. Have a great weekend everyone and hope it's sunny where you are.

Tatton Park Autumn visit.

On the 17th  March this year, one of the last days in winter, I visited the National Trust property Tatton Park. I have been on many occasions and it is always inspirational. On that visit I came across a beautiful hydrangea, which obviously at that time of year was not in flower. Instead, it was scattered with all the dead blooms from the previous year, which had dried on the plant. It was a cold crisp and misty day, which made the hydrangea look very ethereal.

At this point I decided it would be a good idea to keep visiting the plant as the seasons changed to see how it would grow. My second visit was on the 22nd April, I think in only four weeks it had grown quite a lot. I liked the way the new growth was growing alongside the previous year's flowers.

My third visit was on the 8th July. I was really looking forward to this visit as I knew the hydrangea would be in flower and I couldn't wait to see what the colour the flowers would be. I am no plant expert as you can probably tell so I was extremely disappointed to find that the flowers were a rather pale green, not what I was expecting.

My fourth visit was on the 26th October which was a beautiful autumn day. All the flowers had already died and were drying on the plant so they were pretty much as I saw them on my first visit, the only difference being that the leaves are turning a beautiful soft yellow, which gives the flowers the appearance of being a very pale lilac.

 

Reflections

Another garden visit

Yes I have visited Tatton Park yet again, partly to see how the hydrangea plant that I have been following through the seasons is fairing, but also my youngest daughter who is into growing her own vegetables wanted to check out the walled kitchen garden.

We were met by a beautiful display of cottage garden plants that were incredibly colourful and just so lovely.

There were chrysanthemums and some very impressive asparagus.

Tatton Park Revisited part 2

A few months ago I visited Tatton Park (a local national trust property) and came across a plant which I think is a lace cap hydrangea. I photographed it in winter when all the flower heads were dead and had dried onto the dormant plant. I went back in spring to photograph the new growth and have just been back to photograph the summer growth. I had no idea what colour the flowers were going to be and unfortunately now I have seen it I am a little disappointed. I was expecting some colour, pink, blue or maybe even white but it is in fact a very pale green.

I still think it looks very beautiful if not very colourful, it is quite delicate and ethereal but it also has great strength.

After all that green I needed some colour so took some photographs of the hanging baskets.

Just need one more visit to complete the cycle of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Tatton Park Revisited

At the weekend I went to check out how the beautiful hydrangea plant at Tatton Park is getting on, I have since found out that it is of the lace cap variety. The growth has been rapid and it is now in bud but still retains some of last years dead flowers.

There has been a lot of growth by the window which is almost completely obscured by greenery.

It is supposed to flower in July but it is already in bud and looks fairly close to flowering, I am looking forward to finding out what colour it is.

It was a lovely day full of sunshine and flowers and tree hugging. Today however I am wearing a jumper and it looks like rain!!

Last Days of Winter

Last week I spent an afternoon at a local National Trust property, Tatton Park. I took some lovely photographs but was especially taken with one particular plant that was growing on one wall and around a small window. It was very similar to a hydrangea with new growth and old on the same branches, it looked like winter was still clinging on but was rapidly being taken over by new vibrant green growth and the onset of spring. It was quite difficult to photograph but I think I managed to get some good shots.