Painting Begonias from Sharon’s garden on a rainy Autumn day .
“An ordinary visit to a beautiful garden always creates an extraordinary time!”
As part of the botanic garden residency I am able to work in both the city botanic gardens and the Mt Coot-tha botanic gardens. A visit last week to the mangrove swamp situated at the edge of the city botanical gardens cradling the Brisbane river was fascinating and inspirational. Painting and drawing mangroves at low tide has kept me busy. I look forward to a high tide visit soon.
The Grevilleas are flowering. Painting heaven.....
I have been spending time by the lake in the Australian Plant Section of the botanical gardens walking and writing and staring at the reflections on the water .
“All pictures painted inside the studio will never be as good as the things done outside”
Cooler weather ...it"s time to head into the garden and paint.
The Arid Zone......Thorns....During the month of April I enjoyed the arid zone with it's beautiful Aloes and Euphorbias and the succulents in the Cacti and Succulent house. I also enjoyed meeting Prue who looks after the succulents,the fern house and the tropical Dome.
The Temperate Zone......Petals....... on the other side of the lake the Camellias and Magnolias are flowering. What a beautiful sight!
The work table in the studio is full of wonderful thorny specimens from the botanical gardens.
Handle with care!
“the desert is oozing power”
don Juan whispered in my ear
”there is no time to be timid”
”
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of each.” —Henry David Thoreau
Monday mornings I go early to the botanical gardens to collect specimens to paint during the week. I carefully select, cut and take them back to my studio. They are placed in a row of glass bottles on my work table. Each day I select a single flower to focus on. I try to simply paint what I see .
“when you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else.”
pastel drawings of this week's specimens hanging in the studio.
Mount Coot-tha was home to the Turrbal Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years before European settlement. After settlement the summit was cleared, leaving a single Eucalpyt tree. This gave rise to the name One Tree Hill, which remained in place until 1880, when the area became a public recreation reserve. The name Coot-tha comes from the Aboriginal word ku-ta meaning honey. This area was where the Aboriginal people collected honey from the native stingless bee. Coot-tha means ‘place of honey’.