Wednesday 12 August 2009

Experimenting and gardening

I am still procrastinating, having more or less finished the practice book - now I have too many ideas floating around and am not sure of being able to put any of them into practice! I would prefer not to be working in black and silver and white - I think that is the main bother.


I have been experimenting with a few paper casts and different paints and sprays to see what I like, also sewing some fascinating spirals I learnt with Carole Wilkes at the Textile Convention in Brisbane earlier this year. They don't show up too well here, but can look very good.
Then, just because the day was so gorgeous, I decamped into the garden for some overdue pruning and potting up seedlings.

This is our Congea vine which has been a cloud of dusky pink flowers for about a month now. Our boys loved pulling off the petals and dropping them from a height when they were children - they really twist and twirl all the way to the ground. I think the vine is related to the lovely blue Petrea, but Congeas will only grow in the tropics.

This is the last of the zygocactus flowers - should have been over weeks ago, but still a lovely splash of colour.

I alsays love the flowers on the crotons - often think they lend themselves to textiles.

We had such a wonderful wet season I shouldn't complain, but I would LOVE some rain for our garden - we haven't had a drop since the beginning of June and all my plants are looking very thirsty. I try not to water too much, but in this weather it has become a necessity.
Now it is bedtime, so I can sleep on the thoughts of the book and try again tomorrow!





6 comments:

  1. It is always hard to work in a colour scheme you don't much like, but your sample book is so lovely I'm sure you'll find a way round your difficulties. Could you work in white with touches of black and silver? The Congea vine looks like a lot of butterflies taking flight and close to, the flowers are almost like orchids. The Zygocactus is a glorious colour and looks like a plant we call Christmas Cactus and can only grow indoors.

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  2. Love the photos, and I agree with Heather, can you do mostly white and just add touches.
    I am trying to get together out trip to the Uk and Europe so it wont break the bank or us, I really dont want to go and spend heaps and come home and find we are selling up. We had a good July for rain but so far this month there has been a lot of wind and not much rain and going to be 25 on Saturday, this is August for goodness sake.

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  3. I do so agree Robin about working with colours one would not normally choose - it becomes a chore rather than enjoyable. Those paper things look interesting - it is not a technique I know at all. I love the book in your first picture - obviously those are your colours, aren't they? Happy gardening and hope you get rain soon - you can have some of ours anytime!

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  4. I love your practice book. The casts are also beautiful and will hopefully give you inspiration.

    Gorgeous garden pics.

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  5. Beautiful book, Robyn, I love the colours.
    Your garden flowers look amazing considering the lack of rain.
    Many thanks for dropping by my blog, it's lovely to be back, I've missed blogging.

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  6. Love that purple book! do show some more!

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