This patchwork of art squares by children (to inspire us to eat more healthily) was part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s campaign for school gardening at the Tatton Park Flower Show.
It has the side effect of making me smile whenever I look at it.
While I was in Mississippi, we were passing Suzie Cranston’s house when a ball of energy with a beaming smile bounced out of the driveway, exclaiming “I’m painting them! You must look! And I’m really enjoying it!”
She’s the lady, some of you may recall, with perhaps a hundred birdhouses in her garden.
Waving us down the path to her workshop, she pointed out the detailing of the ones she was working on. Any bare wood had been painted over with cheerful colours. Continue reading
These colourful birdhouses from the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show made me think of beach huts, each painted slightly differently to their neighbours, but all in keeping with the spirit of the place. I need to rein in my imagination at this point before I start twittering about birds emerging from their huts in swimming costumes, clutching beach towels, ready for a few hours in the sun… followed by a refreshing sand bath… see what I mean? Continue reading
…even where you least expect it.
Some plants have to wait for flowers to become colourful. Others, like this coleus, don’t. Purple, bright pink and cream splashes and veins do their best to crowd out the lime green, creating a bouquet on every leaf. Some varieties actually do flower very well, but for me, the tall spires of salvia-like flowers merely gild the lily… er, make that gild the coleus. Continue reading
A glimpse of colourful, funky, arboriscape walls from across the courtyard was enough to capture my attention, and draw me in. What followed was a ‘woo hoo!’ moment – it only gets better inside. Continue reading
The weekly photo challenge asks us to share something that is layered, with depth, density or texture. My first choice is a view through a mesh screen into a cafe in St Louis’s City Museum. It’s not really called the City Museum of Fun, but it’s a play house for all ages, and a bewilderingly fertile gathering of inspiration and creativity.
How many galleries can you think of that hold family sleepovers – i.e. can persuade whole families to spend that much time in a museum? The longer I was there, the more I felt like my head was going to explode with impressions.
In the midst of the madness, the repose of these retro robots completely captured my heart – although I’d have felt a bit worried if the closest one had started shaking that cocktail shaker. Continue reading
These oversized tree earrings (well, what would you call them?) are a wonderful way to capture and reflect light in a shady area. We found them just hanging around at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens during last year’s Art In The Garden Exhibition. Continue reading
This characterful bus shelter in Manchester, England, could brighten even a dull day. I love the patterns of colour and light created by the design viewed against the city’s architecture. Continue reading
