artist's dates

The last couple of weeks have been pretty full on, with little time for mySelf - so took 'me' out for coffee at the local farmshop, to be in nature, and also to write some cards to my friend Barbara.

She sent me a package of cards and other interesting reading material during the week.

The idea came from sending each other a card if we go on an artist's date. We discovered we like choosing, writing and sending the cards almost as much as the outing! Often it can be more like 6 or 7 cards.
Here is a card of Queen Victoria, doing an artist's date card perhaps?

I've mentioned artist's dates here before (this was an easy one, without much effort) and I dawdled around the garden with my camera. Got talking to the gardner, and he told me about how he planned the borders - leaving them less structured this year so plants would meld into each other rather like a cottage garden.

I loved this purple, white and yellow all together. He told me he used the white to 'bounce the eye' down the garden, and I noticed it seemed to register on the outsides of the eye. I like the informality of his arrangement, and got me thinking on the poles or duality of creativity - the planned, and the happy accident. Most work is a combination of these two - structure and chaos by different degrees.

He was a bit upset there are no butterflies at the moment, by now there should be loads flitting through these flowers. Bees are fewer, although saw several industriously working away...

There is something very inspiring about this colour combination of pink and blue. I like the organic-ness and the non rigidity of the flopping roses and the strong blue of the delphiniums. For some reason it reminds me of crisp cotton men's shirts!

Comments

[melissa]

i love the idea of an artist's date with yourself. and so cool to have a written memory of it- in the form of a card to a friend.
beautiful pictures of the garden- i always love to meet people who are passionate and knowledgeable about growing things!

[amisha]

such a lovely post. you've captured in words the magic of this type of garden... the planning and the accidents that happen when things grow together, the riot of color that seems unintentional but has a hidden plan.
and the artist's date idea is great!
xo