Around and about the garden

You never know where the inspiration will come from. You just have to be on the ready to recieve it when it comes.

I heard, once, that that was what seperates a true artist from the rest of 'em. Having fine tuned their receptors to whatever inspiration was floating around on the ether. And then of course, there's that bit about being able to chanel that inspiration into something, and on a fairly continual basis. Bearing in mind that... hey, everyone has off days ;}

I try to have a sketch book always to hand. You know, on the off-chance that something will show itself to me, and I'm lucky, I guess, because it usually does. Right now, I have more ideas to try out than I do time to try them!















Sorry Sir... the dog stood on my homework.

The dog was down in the garden when I got up this morning, so when she came back up the hill, she was so happy to great me that she burst through the kitchen door and ran right onto my sketch book with her muddy paws. It was lying on the floor, as there is zero space left on my desk. Drats!















Here she is, in the garden this morning. She's called Conga. She's a sweetie. She was abandoned on the street at just a few weeks old, and to be honest, when we rescues her, I didn't think she's survive. But she did. She's healthy and happy, and her coat is super glossy, because she eats the fruit of the oil palm (the garden was once an oil palm plantation, and it's murderously hard to get rid of that stuff!)

Anyway, the dog perching on my sketchbook reminded me that Doña Eliza, who helps me out some days - I have help around the house, not least because I'm allergic to dust - was clearing-up the lower garden today. So I grabbed my camera - which is really just a different kind of sketchbook when you think about it - and went to take her some lemonade.















Doña Eliza, weeding the Cyclanthus border. In her maids apron, isn't that sweet? :}

On my way down, I noticed that, where the grass is patchy, a miniature member of the Acanthus family is in flower right now.















Not a great photo, I know, the sun is glaring on this little open patch of not grass, but you probably get the fact that these tiny pale lilac flowers look kind of like little stars. And then there was this...















Passiflora quadrangularis (Passifloraceae), with flowers the size of the palm of my hand, which are sweetly scented!

This is my space... it's reserved for me. This is where I'm going to build my workshop and studio and small visitors center, where guests can sit and have a cuppa.















At the moment, it's just a baked desert, carved out of the side of the hill, where Nilo and I play football every afternoon. But that's about to change! (Don't worry, Nilo and I have other places in the garden where we can play!)

And look what else I spotted... strange little capsules. They remind me of star anise.



















The green one are ripe, the dark brown ones are already dry and dehisced. They have a seed-shaking method of dispersal, rather like that of poppy heads.















This plant is what you might consider a weed in our garden, but I'm leaving it because it does no harm, and the fruits are so pretty. It's an anual, and I think I might save some seeds from it this year. Definately, this form is going to work it's way onto my cloth in some way and soon! Look at this...















Strange star-shaped fruits layed on clean skethbook page.















They even look amazing on blur! I'm going to have some Photoshop fun with these I can tell!















Coming up next... Not just any old wash!