My favourite month…

May 2022

May could be it! The garden is alive with the sound of birdsong, swifts are flying high above my head and I’ve heard the first cuckoo.

In the garden the ‘meadow’ outside my studio is studded with wild flowers, unfurling iris blooms are a daily delight and the garden is burgeoning. As always nature has given me a helping hand - a self-seeded foxglove has established a photo-friendly foothold beside the old blue door and love-in-the-mist and welsh poppies are filling any gaps they can find in the borders.

In the studio…

A friend gave me a rhizome of this gorgeous dwarf iris after generously splitting one of her own. It’s Iris pumila ‘Nicola’ with neatly fanned leaves and deepest purple flowers. Last year it failed to flower so I was thrilled to see buds emerging and just had to bring it inside to paint. Apparently it can flower sporadically through the summer so I’m hoping this may be the case here.

A study like this takes me around 5 hours to paint and I completed this illustration in one session. I had to work without stopping as it was literally changing in front of me. To sit in silence painting, while quietly watching it grow was a very rewarding Zen-like experience and when the piece was finished it felt as though it had almost painted itself without me.

Suffolk Open Studio weekend…

Sorting out my open studio for Suffolk Open Studios over the weekend of 11/12th of June is now in full swing - only days away now! This pic shows a few pieces from my collection of hand-built, raku-fired ceramics and there will be new paintings on the wall and my sketchbooks and illustrations to look at if you’re interested. It’s a small studio so please feel free to wander round the garden if it’s busy - the iris’s will be over but the weekend may be warmer by then!

It’s also the Sudbury ‘trail’ weekend when visitors will be able to have a look behind the scenes and see artists in action all around the town. It’s a great day out and there’s no obligation to buy.

Thanks for reading. Happy gardening and happy Jubilee Bank Holiday, stay safe all :-)