Gentle gardening

                                               

                            

 I'm really wanting to get out in the garden with a spade in my hands .and make a start on creating the flower bed that went on hold last year. However I think I'm being a bit ambitious just yet. I did try to do a little but...Mr France and my body are telling me to hold on a bit and take things slowly and gently, So I listened and this is what I've been  doing this past week.

Something easy.

planting bulbs in baskets which later Mr France can hang on the terrace.

I did have big ideas of planting loads of bulbs in the bank I call the wild part of the garden.  

Now I'm thinking maybe later. I hope I don't run out of time before the frost comes.

These were bargain 2kg bags.

 63 Tulips and 65 Varied Daffodils

Which will have to stay in the trug for a little while longer

 I was able to tackle a bit of tidying up, which was easy, I pulled down
 a few branches of the Virginia Creeper and was about to dump it, then 

as I was pushing it into the wheelbarrow it started to

 automatically twist into itself making a rough garland,

so I instantly  rescued it, and look at these wreaths I made.
I'll put them on one side until I have gathered enough
bits of natural things to decorate them.

Even though I wasn't able to bend and dig, I was quite pleased

 with what I did achieve.

What do you think ?

                                             

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Autumn colours.

The Virginia creeper which climbs up the wall

of La Petite Maison, is always the first to turn to such lovely shades of crimson.

I managed to capture the beautiful shades of gold of the leaves

on the Canadian oaks planted in rows in a field near my home.



These tall trees I see near where my daughter lives.

Another favourite walk we love to take when passing.

Fortunately I had my pocket camera with me whilst walking there recently.

Ah! good, a bench to sit awhile and soak up the splendour of natures beautiful colours.

Who wouldn't want to sit and devour these beautiful colours.

 I keep telling myself I should try painting 'en plein air'

This picture is not my own and I'm sorry I can't give credit to the photographer.

as I saw it on a friends facebook page and recognised where it is.

It's the old part of Limoges city near where I live.

It the colours that made me want to show it in my autumn colours post.

These are a few bits of autumn I brought home from my walk

waiting for me to sketch in my Moleskine journal.

With all the beauty of autumn around me

I have so much to capture, so I'd better get painting.

Couldn't resist showing a few autumn stems in a simple jam jar



.



à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Good Bye to our Summer visitors.

Now I have to say goodbye to Summer as our last guests  have just left.

Officially Autumn started on 21st September,

 but while we still had visitors staying in La Petite Maison

and we're still enjoying lovely warm sunny days, I cling on to Summer as long as I can.

 

 





Mr France and I are off to the coast

 to spend a few days enjoying the sound of the waves.

I do love where we live, but I miss the sea.

 

 

 

 

I've thrown a few mix & match outfits in a small case, nothing fancy

as we're hoping to do some walking, nothing energetic.



So hopefully if Mr France wants to take a snooze after lunch

I'll get the chance to try out the new Inktense pencils with the waterbrushes.

and have some sketches to show  you

 

 

I've recently treated myself to a box of 24 Derwent Inktense pencils.

.

 



and a pack of 3 waterbrushes. Which I haven't yet tried, so that could be interesting

 I hope I'll like using them on this trip.

 

 

 

I'm also taking my Moleskin landscape sketch journal

which I bought months ago

and it's still waiting for my 1st sketch.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know why I'm hesitating to sketch in it.

I feel like I'm back at school starting a new term

and not wanting to make a mess on the first page.

 

 

 

I'll be taking loads of photos

so I'll show you where I've been when I get back.

 

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Join me for a walk near where I live in France.

 

This is what I see on the new walk I've been taking, isn't that view fantastic ?

 

I must paint this, but I think I'll wait for awhile until the Autumn

 when the colours will be better.

 



 

Not far from our house the disused railway lines have been removed

and the track has been made into pleasant routes to walk or cycle along.

So recently we've been discovering some really pleasant walks.
Finding flat paths to take walks where I live is not easy.

One of the old stations is now a very popular restaurant.
We have eaten there, but I didn't take any photos.
We plan to eat there again soon, so I'll take my camera then I can let you see.
 

Some of the railway station stops  have been sold and converted into pretty little cottages.

Here's one that's been named La Halte / Stopping place.

Do you see the original stone underneath that awful modern rendering.

I do hope the new owners will remove it.

Now this one has been tastefully restored.

Maybe they could have tried to have gates made in the railway style.

 

 When I'm fitter I'll try to walk the whole track,
 then I'll get to see more of the stopping places, and let you see how they've been renovated.

 

Now we move on to a short local walk, to the nearest hamlet,

 where there is a farm and just a few houses.

 

 

The Limousin cattle can be seen everywhere

 

One of the many disused wells in the area,

which used to provide water for the tiny hamlets.

 

 

 

 

 

I just had to show you this lonely late sunflower which I saw today on the edge of the road.

( so pleased I remembered to put my aim & shoot camera back in the car )

 

Maybe the seed had been sown by the birds, as there wasn't another to be seen for miles.

 

 

 

 

 

The butterflies are still fluttering from flower to flower.

 

and wild flowers are in abundance.

 

 

 This is usually my weekend walk at my favourite place.

 I just love how it changes throughout the seasons.

The Maize is ready to be cut for winter cattle feed.

And these wild flowers are always the last to be in bloom making a purple carpet.

 

 

 

 

Our picnic place for after walk. There are picnic tables,

 but we like to take our reclining chairs for an afternoon snooze.



 

 

 

 

The lane back home.

This photo was taken in March

 before the Spring leaves have covered their branches.

Soon the leaves will be falling for the Autumn season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the lovely things

I get to see on my walks.

 

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

Summers still here in France.

 

 

Although our summer has not been glorious sunshine everyday
and I was not able to give our garden the care it needed
we still have some plants giving us lots of colour.

These  Echinacea  have flowered all summer
 and it looks like they will for a lot longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 They will definitely have to be moved to the new flower bed,

as they have taken over this small area smothering the smaller plants

which are now hidden underneath, fighting for a bit of light.

 

 

I bet you're wondering why I'm showing these Lobelia growing in the gravel ?
Every year I used to sow Trailing Lobelia seeds in trays,
they would germinate,  start to grow, then shrivel up !
Now I go to the nearest garden centre and buy them fully grown in small pots.
Then every year half way through the summer they pop up in the gravel,
from seeds which must have fallen from the previous year.
I pull them out and put them into my hanging baskets.
They must like the cold moist gravel during the winter.
So much for my tender loving care I give to the seeds I sow.




Iceland Poppy

Last year I acquired two Iceland poppy plants.
They were on the shelf in a little shop and looked like they were almost dead.
 As I had bought a few other plants, I thought I'd ask if I could have the two for the price of one.
It must have been my lucky day, he put them in a bag
and said it was a petite cadeaux / a little gift.

They flowered for quite sometime, then completely disappeared.
Then this summer after thinking they had died
they must have been slowly growing without me knowing what they were,
and now summer is almost over they've decided to flower.
I need to mark there place so that I'll remember for next year.

 

This is another annual plant that I found growing in the gravel from a fallen seed,

 I pulled it up and popped it into this blue glazed pot so that I can move it about  

and now it adds some bright colour to an other wise dull spot.

 

 

 

Blue Campanula - carpatica

I did plant some white ones, but they don't seem to have survived the wet winter.

 

 

 

 

 I rescued this on one of my walks from a compost heap.

Perhaps someone had been thinning out their flower bed. I took them home,

not sure what they were until they flowered, then I knew... Osteospernum

I've put them in pots until I'm able to get the proposed flower bed dug out.

 They have flowered on & on all summer.

Being white I need to be put them somewhere that needs lightening up.

 

 

Such a pretty flower.

 

 

Hibiscus - Adonicus pink.

I've kept this in it's original pot and it's been flowering profusely   

since my stay in hospital. It was a gift from a friend.

It still has lots of buds.

 

 

This Fuchsia has such a beautiful flower. Unfortunately I don't know the name.

 I managed to over winter it from a hanging basket I'd bought last year.

It's struggled a bit, but it's now showing some lovely blooms.

 now that summer is nearly over. 

 

 

 

I see from several of my blogger friends gardens that Autumn is certainly here.

I hope some of you can manage to hold on to summer a bit longer, If not,

maybe you have some plants in pots that are still flowering that you can bring indoors.

 

What ever your weather enjoy your garden.

 

I know my posts have been few and far between these past few months,

but I'm almost back to my old self.

I have greatly appreciated all the kind get well wishes from so many of you.

 

I'll be back soon, as  I have something I want to share with you.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 

 

No Gardening, so I'm painting.

It's been raining for days and the forecast is more for the next few days, which means our garden project has been put on hold ! So what do I do with my time after the daily chores have been completed.......
Well, now I don't have any excuse not to be working on  the painting challenge I gave myself.

Before the rain I'd collected a selection of different leaves so thought I'd start off with a little bit of Autumn.

and a couple of cones from the many I've collected

waiting to be used in decorations for Christmas.

I have various watercolour painting books on 'How to  ....... '

and the many techniques on how to use aquarelle in the style I like.

.However that day my mind was blank

 I had no idea what to paint, should it be scenes, buildings or flowers ?

Being so undecided I thought I'd sketch a few things in my journal

I started with what I could see in front of me on my work surface.

Then I saw my journal. !

 I only started  it at the beginning of this year 2013

 Unfortunately I'm not disciplined enough and only make the odd entry every now and again.

My journal has brown paper which is like wrapping  paper.

and it's a very different surface to paint on which I don't find  easy.

  so I usually just sketch.

then use my watercolour pencils.

I will state this is not meant to be a self portrait ! 

but it is my usual style of dress for gardening on cold drizzly days.

 .

We had a break in the clouds and it had stopped raining for a short spell

I decided to get outside and divide up a few plants &  re-pot a few others, also

 I'd just bought a tray of pansies to brighten up the window boxes and they needed to be planted.

so that turned out to be my subject for sketching.

I do like to paint pansies.

I put one in a little blue glazed, terracotta pot.

This one below is one I did during my first period of painting in 2008

Mr France was so proud of me, he made a mount and framed it .

I had a period of busy family life and painting was shelved for quite a few years.Then when I did have the time, I found it difficult to begin again. I felt I'd lost my way, and was never happy with what I produced.  My art teacher at that time gave me a very good piece of advice, 'never throw away any of your paintings, otherwise you'll never have anything to compare your recent painting with' 

I'm glad I listened, as I took out some of my early paintings, and saw I had improved, and now feel I have the courage to gradually slip a little painted sketch into my posts.Some of my lovely followers have asked, where I've been hiding my talent. I don't see myself as producing good work or being talented. I enjoy painting, but always want to paint in the style of others.

I received an email from one of my follower friends, telling me I should be chuffed at what I'm producing in my own style..That was the best encouragement I could receive and I take it as a compliment.

Slowly I'm gaining my confidence again. 

and trying to paint as often as I can.

I hope you like what I've dared to share.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian