Back to Wildegoose Gardens, for one of the regular artist meetups which I've been part of, for over two years now. Thankfully, in a week of abnormally high temperatures, last Wednesday was a little cooler, (at 26C/78 max) and there was a decent breeze all day. We started the day in the little cabin café at the top, for coffee and catch-up, before scattering ourselves around the gardens to work.
Now we are coming out of Spring, and the first summer flowers are splashing the beds with bright colour.
Wildegoose is a modestly sized garden compared to some, but it more than makes up for it in design and planting. Winding paths lead you into secret areas, and there are several seating areas where you can have a quiet moment and take in the scenery. Brown Clee Hill is just visible in the distance, long and brooding.
It's a challenge to find just one thing to paint in this glorious exuberance; I always wander round for some time, taking it all in and soaking up the atmosphere.
Today, I needed a shady spot and found a secluded archway cut into a hedge, where I sat for the rest of the morning, doing a scribbly study of light and shade. My work is normally pretty tight and controlled, so this was playtime.
Just as it was starting to get properly hot, it was lunchtime and we began emerging from our chosen spots and headed up to the cabin, like homing birds heading for the same nesting ground. At the top of the gardens is a long, Georgian greenhouse, which still has the original heating pipes installed. However, today was not the day for a greenhouse of any size, no matter how interesting.
After we'd devoured our packed lunches, chatted and had a rest, it was back to the afternoon heat for round two. I picked the pretty little white bench under some trees, where one of my favourite views lay straight ahead.
As is the way, the afternoon flew by, and I produced another pleasing scribble.
After a final wander, it was time to re-group and share our sketchbooks - one of the best parts of the day; seeing what everyone else has created and discussing the various techniques used.
Apart from the pleasant social side of these days, I find that working loosely and from real life always teaches me something new, which I can then incorporate into my other work. I've begun painting properly again, with a view to getting things in galleries, and although my art is purely imaginative, it has to have element of realism, such as the light and shade, to make it believable.
At the moment, I'm in the middle of 'Swallow's Return'. It's at the dreaded halfway stage, where it seems that it will never be finished or look as I imagined. But like a winding garden path, which goes round and round, it will get there - in the end.
