Visit to the Seekers Trust

It was good to have some time at the Seekers Trust in Addington recently. The little flats are set in gardens with a wood next door to explore and a large pond. The seekers website here.

I have been going for some years for solitary retreats and creative stays and appreciate the healing chapels and Angelic connections.

Ruth and I went this time, armed with loads of water soluble media and my cameras. I enjoyed drawing with the water soluble crayons, pens, and coloured Inktense crayons.

As well as the woods and rose garden I drew the cherry tree outside our flat and used the spiritual connections and library to draw alchemical notes and Buddhas.

We also went to Aylesford Priory, and I was drawn to all the ancient trees around the site including a huge plane tree and fir at the back of the Priory. Their old barn, now a cafe and shop, was being re thatched, interesting to watch the craftsmen at work.

We came away with some pottery from the Aylesford Pottery founded by David Leach in the 1950's

Studying Sunflowers

My daughter Ruth bought a lovely bunch of sunflowers this week. I have been enjoying looking at them, taking a few photos and doing some sketches.

We also had a sunflower self seeded in the path at the front of the house, it seemed right to leave it to flower.

As the weather is getting colder, the sunflowers bring a sense of warmth and summer in the house.

I used my water colour pencils and pen and ink for the sketches and some digital processing for the photographs.

Retreat at the Seekers Trust

I had a few days solitary retreat at the Seekers Trust as a meditation and art  space. The Seekers Trust website here
It was good to be back amongst the gardens and wood around the site.
They have been refurbishing the flats and have a new café and office space. There were bluebells and forget- me -nots in the woods  and mock orange by my door.

I was lucky to have good weather after the first day with showers and I took my canvases into the wood to do some drawings and back to the flat to paint them.

Some of my favourite trees remain in the wood, though some have fallen down or been cut down, such is the ecology of the woodland.  Many birds still around, lovely to hear them singing most of the day.

I was up at dawn on one day to hear and record the dawn chorus, I love that sense of being surrounded by bird song. It's always amazing how much sound can come out of such tiny birds.

I am still working on some paintings of the woods and church on the hill and on the photographs I took there. I'll upload them when I've finished them.

Monkton Open Gardens

The village of Monkton holds an annual Open Gardens each year. I really love the idea of opening your gardens to the public and several organisations promote them, including the National Gardens Scheme link here  Monkton has some lovely old buildings and a lot of their gardens were looking  beautiful even if they were not part of the Open Gardens.

It was a bit too hot on that day for me, but a brilliant blue sky and bright colours.  I liked the fact that these were ordinary gardens, so not immaculate, but still lovely.  The owners were all keen to talk about their gardens and plant varieties, something I'd have a problem with, as I forget all my plant names. It is good to see where particular plants thrive in the gardens, what conditions work best for them.

Most of the gardens had plant sales so we had a boot full on the way home, resisting giant cacti and focusing on perennials. It seems a fitting activity to take away a bit of the gardens you like for your own garden.

The Village Hall sold refreshments and the popular home made cakes to take away and they were doing a good trade with all the visitors. We were all walking along the village holding the guide maps in our hands.

I have managed to nearly fill my garden this year so can only buy limited plants now, but I enjoy seeing all the variety and remembering where I bought them from.

Chelsea Flower Show.

I visited the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday and stayed for the sell off for the first time.
The show was packed, the avenues filled with shoppers at the trade stands and queues to see some of the gardens.

We had good weather though, probably one of the best days of the week with a lot of sunshine. The cooler wet weather had preserved the gardens well though till the end of the week.

 Having been for a few years now, courtesy of Ruth, its interesting seeing the continuing trends. There is still a lot of hard landscaping with soft natural planting. Generally subtle colour schemes with a lot of white and pale flowers, grasses, iris, foxgloves, geums, peony, cornus, silver birch and aquilega.

This year though saw rowan trees, and lots of hazel and cultivated forms of cow parsley too.
I was struck by some of the delicate single roses on Peter Beales stand and this beautiful white climbing rose. they were awarded a gold medal in the show.

I loved and wanted one of the water gardens on Waterside Nursery's stand, It was interesting to see how many plants could be grown in containers of water. I shall be on the lookout for suitable containers now.

Chelsea Flower Show

With all the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations going on it seems a while ago since I went to the Chelsea Flower Show.  I was there on the last day but not for the sell off. One year I'll stay to take photos, I love the way people disappear under all the plants they buy. Some thing I'd be doing as well.

The gardens seemed more muted in palette this year, softer planting too in general, with more of a wild garden feel to some. Diamuid Gavin produced another talked about garden, an 80ft 7 story garden which won the most Creative Show Garden prize.

Cleve West's Brewin Dolphin Garden won Best in Show with it's topiary yew shapes, hedging and soft herbaceous plants.


Satoya Life won a gold medal and best Artisan Garden. I loved the moss, Japanese Maples and water features, one of my favourite gardens.

Sarah Price's garden for the Daily Telegraph had some beautiful multi stemmed silver birch trees, very relaxed and natural in landscaping.

The Artisan Retreats were just gorgeous, summer houses or garden rooms to work and relax in I could have taken any of them away with me had i the room or money,  I always find it a pleasure to be amongst the gardens and flowers in the marquee, it is such a difference from being on the streets of London. Literally a breath of fresh or perfumed air.

Per Kirkeby at Tate Modern and Hampton Court show.

The Hampton Court Flower Show was on last week and I was there again with my sister, trying out my new camera and enjoying the show. Generally Hampton Court Show feels more spacious than Chelsea Flower show, but this year Hampton Court seemed very busy, which was fine until I had my handy cart filled with bargain priced plants.

The perfume and colour of the plants is what draws me time and time again. It is like being awash with beautiful sensations and the sheer variety of plant forms is staggering. From the same basic elements and earth, water and sun, we find all the richness of the plant kingdom.

I have also been to see the exhibition of Per Kirkeby at Tate Modern, I didn't know his work before but was really pleased to see it here at the exhibition. There were a number of his collages that inspired me, using images from the natural world, torn papers and real leaves.



His blackboard paintings hinted at lost histories of work rubbed out and his small bronze sculptures were earthy and powerful. In the last room were some great oil paintings on canvas, his "Soft Lapping of Waves Green" was lyrical and as the name implies full of green tones. Other large paintings, untitled, had reference to his geological interests, layers of formations and abstact shapes.