Gill’s Garden, 5th September 2019.
Faded glory - winding brick paths - several different rooms - traditional cottage plants - wooden and stone sculptures being revealed by the change in the season - old twisted apple trees, lawns bearing their discarded fruit - grass showing the work of the searing late Summer sun, parched and patchy.
Faded glory - winding brick paths - several different rooms - traditional cottage plants - wooden and stone sculptures being revealed by the change in the season - old twisted apple trees, lawns bearing their discarded fruit - grass showing the work of the searing late Summer sun, parched and patchy.
Gill’s was the first garden of our project. We wandered around exploring our home for the morning…it’s all a question of tuning in. We look, listen and smell….then look some more before identifying the thing that captures our attention. Then the chatter slows as we start to work. My preferred method is compressed charcoal and charcoal pencil with water. This allows me to draw freely and loosen up. Often I add colour with wax crayons that are water soluble and behave a bit like watercolour. Although my work is often abstract drawing is something I really enjoy, particularly mark making. I will often draw the same thing repeatedly as it keeps giving me more each time. On this first visit I was taken with the towering sculptural plants contrasting with the delicate rangy ones. I also fell for the stone lion…which surprised me! It was lovely to return to the garden after Lockdown in July 2020 and provided a significant contrast. Sarah. |
Alison's Garden, 5th September 2019
Quiet elegance - contrasts - openness - order - gentle sunlight - tranquillity.
Quiet elegance - contrasts - openness - order - gentle sunlight - tranquillity.
Alison’s garden has, for me, a quiet elegance and a sense of order. It’s hard not to think about it as a contrast to the piece of land beyond, which, on the day we visited had a feeling of wildness and untamed abundance.
Alison’s garden rises up from the level of the field so it feels as if it is overlooking it, like a classical temple in an un-tended park. An important theme for me in this project has been defining the contrast between wild nature and organised garden. Here this difference is explicit and obvious. We spent a warm and happy afternoon drawing in this garden soaking up its atmosphere of tranquility. Kate. |
Kate's response to Alison's garden.
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In Alison's garden I liked the quiet, classical elegance of the bench and the plants around it. This drawing, made from life, emphasizes those qualities. Afterwards, I played about in my sketchbook trying to work out how to best describe this classical elegance. I like to think in visual metaphors so, at the same time, I was picking up bottle tops and drawing them in my sketchbook. Bottle tops work well as a metaphor for plants because they all share the same basic structure but they are all slightly different. |
Rita's Garden, 30th September 2019
Deep in the relaxing garden - under dappled shade - alive with noise - sections and pathways - divisions of space - ample for the senses - rooms with a view - planting everywhere - autumnal debris
Deep in the relaxing garden - under dappled shade - alive with noise - sections and pathways - divisions of space - ample for the senses - rooms with a view - planting everywhere - autumnal debris
I think about the gardens of Woburn as being like buildings, the different areas of lawn or planting representing different parts of a house. For me Rita’s garden is a medieval manor house made up of a series of connecting rooms. Nothing is quite straight, which is part of its charm, and everywhere you look you see a vista into the next room and beyond.
Kate. We were encouraged to explore, and explore I did! The pathways meandered and merged, leading into and through an extensive garden with no shortage of inspiration. I tucked myself away under the tree next to a greenhouse and enjoyed the gorgeous dappled sunlight in this shaded area. It had an abundance of tree debris which was perfect for my charcoal rubbings. I also drew in my sketchbook with pencil and charcoal over an ink wash. Victoria. |
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