Creativity moves into the garden

A sunny morning inspires me to get some photos of the garden. We have a small cornish garden on the North Coast of Cornwall, a mere 400 yards from the sea. Anything that dares to put its head above the parapet of the garden wall gets battered and shredded by the Atlantic winds which can come at any time of the year.

The colour palette changes all year round, but the high summer provides the best colour when the foliage is at its best, providing a perfect foil for the dark blacks of the aeoniums, the magenta pinks of the lilies and the merest hint of deep blues emerging from the agapanthus.

An artist can learn a lot from a garden, seeing how height and size of objects alters the scale and leads the eye between plants on a journey of discovery as well as great colour combinations and contrast.

Spot the heart shaped stones. We have found these on the beaches locally over the past few years, varying in size, but beautifully shaped by the sea. They are a rare find, but will always be brought home or given to someone else.

Bits of found driftwood scatter the garden providing perches for the birds and I have even interplanted tomatoes this year, but with little sun, they are suffering

I take photos this time of the year, because may of these plants die down in the winter and I need to move them, so a pictorial record is very useful.

I have dabbled in a few watercolours of the garden, but until I get tired of painting the coast and sea, it will never become my main focus.