Spring Bulbs - Carolyn Pappas

To celebrate the last day of tax season yesterday, I sat in the garden and did this sketch in the evening while sipping a cup of tea. It was a little chilly, but it has since dropped 20 degrees and it is supposed to rain (and maybe even snow) this weekend. I'm glad I took the opportunity to get outside a bit. I did the watercolor part afterwards, inside.

Pages from my new garden journal!

Not much time for art making this month, but time enough to document my newly redesigned gardens in my new garden journal. Here are some pages:

Another look at my windmill palm!

Hint: It won't be the last!

I am so enamored of this unlikely-for-these-parts tree that I've just added to my garden! It's a windmill palm, as I mentioned, and it's supposed to be cold hardy up to zero degrees F, so we shall see. It made it through this past very cold January and February, so I say kudos to it!

Gardens are nature, too!

Purists might object to garden sketches in such a forum as ours, but we ignore them. Don't we ? Quickly, before Kate can tell me not to, here are some recent sketches relating to my garden.

Back Home in my Garden

After travelling around Europe for 5 weeks and struggling to sketch as the weather got colder... nothing is more special than coming home and enjoying a Saturday morning soaking up the warm spring Australian sun and looking around at what is happening in my garden. I am no gardener so my looking around is more from an aesthetic point of view than from any knowledge of species.

So here is the page that I did on Saturday - I overworked the first azalea sketch so I did another one and stuck it over the top - I try to never rip a page out of my sketchbook but I have no problem covering a mess up... it is all part of the experience.

My favourite trees are starting to lose their bark and I am just itching for an opportunity to go down the road again and sketch them as they transform from grey- pinky grey-yellow -to bright orangey red! So stay tuned....

The Garden at Stroncone

The Garden at Stroncone
Originally uploaded by linfrye

Sketched Plein Air
Painted in Studio
9" x 12" Arches CP #140

There is much to tell about Venice with a most incredible surprise I'll share tomorrow...I've been itching to tell this part of the story, but I truly need to dash off to the office.

Meanwhile, back to Tuscany.

I sat just inside the street limits to paint this garden - located just outside the ancient city walls. Behind me, the sounds of children laughing, teachers instructing, bells ringing kept me company as I sketched. It was a soft, beautiful morning! People passed me as I sat between two vehicles for safety! But I cannot look at this without hearing the merry sounds of those schoolchildren!

I sketched this and again struggled with perspective - painted a bit of it on site - then packed up my gear and continued exploring this amazing stone city. I gave the piece a lot more light (photo posted earlier) and softened that grey wall of the old town limits.

I think what has impressed me so much about Italy was the sheer numbers of planters and pots that softened every dwelling - roses, pansies, geraniums, callas --- all massed in whatever space was available. This was definitely bringing nature home!

Lin Frye
North Carolina

Wine Bottles and Flowers LaRomita

Wine Bottles and Flowers LaRomita
Originally uploaded by linfrye

Travel Sketchbook
Plein Air
La Romita, Terni, Italy

I had to try to capture that magnificent courtyard garden at La Romita!! The view of these flowers and garden structures were captivating!! I sketched this plein air while sitting in the courtyard and painted it plein air with finishing touches in the studio. It's a little lighter in person than scanned.

I just LOVE those old wine bottles!!! I believe they were specially made for La Romita.

Charles and I went to a small jazz festival yesterday. Oxford has built an amphitheatre at its new athletic park, and we spent several hours there yesterday walking the incredibly well-maintained trails, listening to music and enjoying the coolness of an overcast day. Mighty relaxing!

Lin Frye
North Carolina

Drawing a Garden

From CAP Art Blog

I visited Northampton, Massachusetts this past Sunday and did this drawing of a garden there. It was situated behind an old factory building that had been turned into a building full of shops. I sat outside the back entrance on a little tripod stool and drew this in ink. I painted the watercolor later at home. I wanted to give the impression of a garden that was tightly packed because that was the first thing that I thought of when I saw it. To read more about my weekend, you can read my blog post here.

Rebeccas Rose Trellis

Rebeccas Rose Trellis
Originally uploaded by linfrye

Daily Practice

A disappointing day yesterday. We left with two vans and an extra vehicle filled with excited patrons and headed toward Wilmington and the spring blooms of Airlie Gardens. About 30 minutes into the trip, the heavens opened up, and sheets of rain, drumrolls of thunder and bolts of lightning 'had their way with us.' Sigh. We pulled into a rest stop to call the Gardens to see if the weather were any better, and it seemed that the banks of storm clouds were going to continue throughout the day. Sadly, we turned the cars around and returned to the Arboretum to plan alternative trips.

We wound up scheduling not one, but FOUR trips between June and next May - with suggested ideas for the 2010-2011 year. So we were able to achieve some positive results from the day.

The storms battered us until well into the evening, with several tornatos wrecking havoc in the towns we had passed by. So we probably made the sane decision - disappointing as it was.

After we all dried off and resumed the tasks we could now tackle, the day went fairly well. When I left for the evening, I reached the B&B before sundown. Under threatening skies, I sat in my car in front of Rebecca's Rose Trellis, and sketched that cheerful scene. Later on, Rebecca told me that the climbing roses were her mother's ... even more special to her.

More meetings today and tidying tasks before my trip next week. I'm waiting until Saturday to get excited...!!! LOL

Lin Frye
North Carolina