These are garden plans I painted for the recently published RHS Companion to Scented Gardens by Stephen Lacey. I was given the layout and plant names and then maxed out my Pinterest saving pictures of each one to refer back to. I enjoyed this job – orderliness and plants, a satisfying combination for a control-freak nature lover like myself.
gravel garden..
mixed border..
shady garden..
and sunny garden.
Hello folks – I’m just back from a lovely 2 weeks in Greece. Here’s a project I’ve been working on this Spring. Some friends of mine from the wonderful art school I attended 5 years ago on the Greek island of Paros (the Aegean Center for The Fine Arts) returned there this May to be married. The bride, Maria-Elena, is Greek, so the ceremony was the real Greek deal. They commissioned me to make a map of the island and streetplan of the main town where we lived and studied (Parikia), with annotated illustrations of their favourite places. The groom, Brett, a great writer, provided the words.
The finished item was printed as a double-sided A3 leaflet, a copy of which went to every guest. Pictures and words were drawn out full-size in pen, painted with gouache and edited in Photoshop. Click on the images to see them closer…
Ok so this is the big project I had on before Christmas. My client has a beautiful garden by the South Downs in Sussex which he opens to the public in the summer. He gives his visitors a print-out of information about the garden but wanted to accompany this with a aerial plan. So my brief was to design such a picture – something simple and clear, with a key. The below is the result, drawn in ink and cleaned up in Photoshop. The map was to be printed out on a side of A4 paper, so I drew the original slightly bigger at approximately 23cm x 32cm; this way you can get more detail in with crisper lines. Click on the image to enlarge.
The second half of the commission was the same plan but in colour and with little illustrations around it of the highlights of the garden. This version was to be framed for inside the house. I used ink and watercolour for this, on lovely 100% cotton Fabriano paper, so it will stand the test of time. The dimensions are approximately 35cm x 53cm. A frame is the final element for a picture like this, to group the images together in their composition. Click on the image to enlarge. I should add that there are some lovely blue skies in the little illustrations which the scan hasn’t picked up very well.
