The Little Lemon Tree

This is a sketch from Desiree, done several weeks ago now during the tail end of autumn.  It's part of her own garden and amazingly colourful considering the time of year. A real reminder to me as to how mild the Californian climate is compared to that of the UK. Everything looks wonderfully lush. 

I am particularly jealous of her little lemon tree, something we can't grow remotely well here in England.

I have seen photos of Desiree's garden and its stunning. I think her love for her plants clearly spills over into this painting and i am so happy it's now part of my postcard collection.  Thank you Desiree!  

A Scottish Country Garden

I've had Bridget's card, my last one of this exchange, propped up on my mantelpiece for a week or more, to gaze at and enjoy - and think of what I could say about it that it doesn't eloquently say for itself. Gorgeous rich colour, expressive and varied marks that describe her winter garden so vividly - the dormant stalks, withered leaves and brave new snowdrops in the muted, wild looking landscape. I absolutely love my little piece of Scotland, and of the painterly way it's presented - apparently casual yet so masterful! Thank you Bridget - hope that back is well on its way to recovery so you can get to zumba and walking again - though you clearly don't need to go very far to produce wonderful work.

Stunning Autumn Glory at Sheffield Park

This card needs no words.  Enjoy!   I certainly am.  It's genuinely tremendous!!

Thank you so much Katherine.  I have been studying it carefully working out the technique.  The delicate interlace of pen and coloured pencil works brilliantly.

Lucky me!

If you'd like to know more about the wonders of Sheffield Park see Katherine's recent posts on her sketchbook blog:

• Autumn Colour at Sheffield Park
• An Indian Summer (and ice lakes) at Sheffield Park

Garden Gates

What a beautiful surprise was waiting for me today! Cathy's gorgeous postcard of the entrance gates into her Botanic Gardens. It is a lovely contrast to a similiar sketch that I did last summer. I love the richest of this painting and that it really draws me in... would love one day to be able to enter these gardens

On the back is a gorgeous painting of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow flowers which I am told are in bloom in our backyard garden too (obviously I am not the gardener in the household!)

Thank you Cathy

A vision of topiary in France

Topiary in the front garden of the Chateau Dumas

I've been waiting a long time for my postcard from Bridget Hunter.  First of all it went astray - except I didn't know I was due to get it.  So then I had to wait until the end of the month to work out who might have sent my missing postcard - because of who had not had a painting listed in the month.

I finally worked out it was Bridget, wrote her an email and she very kindly agreed to send a second one. In fact she painted three in total as she decided it was boring doing the same one again!

So this truly beautiful postcard - which I am so very pleased to now own - is of the Chateau Dumas in South West France.  Bridget recently stayed there during a spell of gorgeous weather and describes it as a painter's paradise, inside and outside, with a still life or landscape around every corner!

This particular view is of the formal garden at the front of the house.  Bridget shares a love of topiary with me.  She says that the beautifully shaped bushes made her feel as if she was in the garden of the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.

Salsa anyone?

Its not often that postcards make my mouth water, but this delightfully illustrated recipe version managed to do that - you may start a trend here, Desiree, or a new exchange... She says these purple fruits grow like Chinese lanterns (or Cape gooseberries?) inside papery, puffy balls until they bust through the cover revealing the fruit inside. They are apparently usually pale green, though I've never heard of tomatillos, let alone purple ones - but I love the colours and the lovely loose way they've blended into the shadows. On the envelope is a sketch of Desiree's labours to produce this interesting food. Now all I have to do is find me some purple tomatillo seeds!

The weather is playing games on our gardens in California

I received this beautiful postcard from Pat the other day, such a surprise to have a hand full of mail and to glimpse the colorful corner of her card. She couldn't have sent me a more perfect card, the garden is my shangri la. Pat tells me that she has been working in the garden and sat down to rest and do her sketch. She says that the grapes are early and the Camilla's should have been all done blooming in February. I do feel your same issues although I am loving this cooler weather. Thanks Pat for such a perfect card!

Spring and a new view from a Handschusheimer garden

Garden in Handschusheimer - finally Spring!

Albrecht has sent me a splash of Spring with this vibrant yellow plant growing in a garden in Handschusheimer - just north of Heidelburg.  It looks very much like forsythia to me and is a real tonic for the eyes.

On the reverse is another sketch and a little map which I found to be absolutely fascinating as I unpicked it but by bit.  This is what Albrecht says (I've added in the links to the places!)

The view from the garden overleaf (over the campus of the university of Heidelburg)

This is a historic moment!  One of the cooling towers of the Nuclear Power Plant at Philipsburg doesn't smoke anymore!  Yesterday one unit has beeen shut down in response to the nuclear problems in Japan.  Finally!  From where we live the distance is only 35km!(21 miles)

Then he has annotated the little map in the bottom left to highlight:

• the Romanesque cathedral Dom Speyer (Speyer Cathedral) 1025-1106 by the River Rhine.  I looked it up and it's been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Speyer Cathedral, a basilica with four towers and two domes, was founded by Conrad II in 1030 and remodelled at the end of the 11th century. It is one of the most important Romanesque monuments from the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The cathedral was the burial place of the German emperors for almost 300 years.
UNESCO

• a place where there are lots of hanging willow trees in a reserve (on what looks like an ox-bow lake) - and we already know how much Albrecht likes willows!
• an area where there are many natural reserves (nature reserves?) - so I guess these are places Albrecht likes to go to sketch.

Lots of information about Heidelburg

I looked up all the places on Google Maps - like I always do - and was amazed to see the shape of the snaking River Rhine and all the old oxbow lakes it created prior to being channelled. These are so very evident from the satellite view and reminds us of the power of inland waterways to change the landscape over time.

A Postcard from Casa Colina

A postcard from Desiree - Casa Colina

This is the beautiful postcard I received from Desiree Habicht in southern California.

This is what she had to say about her visit to Casa Colina on the reverse.

This new rehabilitation hosital is absolutely beautiful.  We are lovers of the spanish and meditaerranean influences in our architecture.  Every street seems to have many subtropicals and varieties of palm trees.  Since we are here several times a week I often will run or walk the area whuch Jennifer has therapy.  Today, as I wait in the outdoor gardens, I am enjoying the sun and the warmth.  The birds of paradise are blooming and the boug. are just starting to open up.  Within a few weeks they will cover the nicely trimmed bushes with a neon pink.

Enjoy!

Note: Casa Colina is located in Pomona, California, about 40 miles due east of downtown Los Angeles on the San Bernardino Freeway, Interstate-10.