When the garden takes over ....

Stitching a 'garden' background - Wilma Simmons 

Using gardens as inspiration for art is long established practice in the fine arts, including textile arts. Monet's painting are amongst my favourite artworks and there is no shortage of  treatises about the gardens in art.   

https://www.booktopia.com.au/monet-s-garden-in-art-debra-n-mancoff/book/

Some of my favourite textile artists ( like Anne Kelly) turn to gardens as a source of unending inspiration. 

https://www.textileartist.org/small-worlds-recycled-textile-art-by-anne-kelly

In a considerably more humble way, I have recently been featuring plants from our garden in my small wearable art pin series for #the100dayproject. Although we are in the winter phase of the garden where the colour palette is a more subdued, there are still some beautifully bright flowers, like the purple black eyed African daisies, late summer marigolds, tiny native violets and their potted cousins, violas. Even the pure white rice flower plant  appears to be shining in the soft sunshine . 
 Leaves from deciduous trees and plants even put on a display of colour as they turn Autumn gold and red - I have particularly enjoyed stitching these rich colours.  Even on the greyest of days, there is always something which attracts interest in the garden , even if it is a single leaf on the ground or caught in a spider web, or vegetable seedlings growing up towards the garden supports.  

#100pinpoems - Wilma Simmons 

#100pinpoems - Wilma Simmons 

I could honestly say that the garden has taken over my days - not only trying to get some late produce seedlings into the ground, but also taking photos and then interpreting my garden views in stitch. 

I wonder if the benefits of gardening will be doubled if I both spend some time tending the garden as well as depicting it in my art activities? Let's hope so... 

https://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk/blog/why-gardening-is-good-for-you/