Like many others in this time of pandemic and lock-downs I have really appreciated the value of having an outside space. My small city garden has been a very important part of my life from the first time I laid eyes on it twenty five years ago - when it was just a promising patch of rough ground with a lilac tree. Over the years it has given me inspiration, peace, happiness and a lot of physical exercise - and it is now providing me with leaves and flowers for my mono-printing! The title of this piece is taken from Andrew Marvell's poem, “The Garden”, which seems to express beautifully how I feel about gardens in general. Whether I'm sitting reading with the sun flickering through the leaves of the Rowan tree or tracking down the croaking of a frog to a cranny in the stone wall or just enjoying the sparrows squabbling over the nuts in the feeder; it's all soul food as far as I'm concerned.
Most of my botanical watercolours feature plants that I've grown over the years. A lot of the plants are in pots which I move around to create interesting combinations and textures. One can't help but feel optimistic when planting tulip bulbs in the winter, looking forward to them emerging in the spring and opening their gorgeous flowers in celebration of the new season, or planting seeds to watch them growing like miracles from almost nothing to a tapestry of summer colour. I find there is interest everywhere from the forms and colours of the trees and plants, to the detail of the tiny world within each flower.
I visit national gardens whenever I can and Cardiff has some lovely green spaces. There's something very special about wandering through drifts of planting as tall as myself – a managed wilderness to lose oneself in! Orchards too – the gnarly fruit trees, birds and insects, dappled shade and grass strewn with wildflowers – seem to create a timeless paradise. My own garden sanctuary provides me with a restful and ever changing canvas to rest my gaze, leaving room for the imagination to roam and play - “Annihilating all that's made, to a green thought in a green shade”.
