Four black and white pictures

I’d been at a loss for some artwork for our bedroom wall. We had one picture on the wall in our previous house, and that wasn’t right for here so I needed to come up with something else. And I really wasn’t sure.

In the end I took inspiration from an existing picture we had - remember back in March 2020 I shared a photo of mine that finally got on the wall with some help from Photowall?

But I wasn’t sure if where I had in mind would work, so I mocked it up.

4 sheets of paper taped to the wall to test if the layout worked

And so for the next few weeks or so, I tweaked their positions - up a bit, down a bit, together a bit more and so on. Finally I was happy and then my attention turned to choosing the images.

We had the rocks from our holiday in Cornwall back in 2014, and I knew I had a picture of storks nesting from a holiday in Portugal. But what else? The good news is I found some.

And I used Photowall again, this time paying for my additional three images to be framed.

The service was still good, and it was easy to upload my images and create my artwork, though I hadn’t realised that they’d changed their frames so the three new frames are a slightly different finish to the one I already had. I was disappointed that the frames and pictures came separately though, and I had to assemble them myself once they arrived - not a huge thing, but a definite difference to my previous experience.

That said, I’m still very happy with the end result. Of course when they arrived I spent more than intended on their layout - thankfully for MOH on the carpet rather than the wall (as there was also a difference in the positioning of the sawtooth picture hanger).

I decided on this layout.

And don’t they look great on the wall?

The four black and white pictures hung on the wall above a light wood chest of drawers

MOH did a great job, under extreme pressure to get the gaps right!!

And as you’re wondering what the images are, they’re (clockwise from top left):

  • A view towards Greenwich from the Thames Path

  • Storks nesting on telegraph poles in the Alentejo in Portugal

  • A flooded field in Elston, one of the villages close to our new home

  • A rock formation from our trip to Cornwall back in 2014.

And all are photos we’ve taken ourselves, and there’s nothing better to have on our walls - our memories captured by us - at some point I’ll do a post about each of the four photos we chose and why.

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Escaping seasons of the mind

* I was invited to the press preview for and provided with a pair of tickets to Gardeners’ World Live so I’m marking posts from the show as 'Ad’ - as usual my views and opinions are very much my own. Be sure to check out all of my posts from the show.

In the last of my posts from last year’s Gardeners’ World Live I’m sharing a reflection garden which for me was one of the most thought provoking gardens at the show. It’s designed by Lilidh Matthews and John Tallis and is exquisitely beautiful, even more so when you understand the meaning behind it.

A series of increasing height corten steel posts form a circle around the garden representing time

There are eleven corten posts which represent the ubiquitous architecture of the cityscape, and the garden takes you on a journey through the seasons, illustrating the passing of time. This is done, not only by the change in height of the beautiful corten posts, but also through the changing colours of the planting again representing the seasons.

A closer look at two of the corten steel upside down L shape posts with purple and white planting beneath
Two further reverse L shaped corten posts, these are much smaller and the planting around them is yellow and green

“The garden was inspired by two facts:

  1. 90% of our lives are spent indoors. The central space portrays how we are trapped in a void of our own four walls.

  2. Most suicides happen in the autumn.”

The cracks in the paving slowly grow closer together as you pass through the garden and arrive at the 12 o’clock point; a bench in summer where you can admire all the beauty of the four seasons.

entry and exit to the garden is across three calm stepping stones surrounded by water and edged with small box plants, the centre section of the garden is also paved with a raised central area

It is a stunning garden full of symbolism, but even without knowing the symbolism it would be a great place to spend some time and exactly the sort of space to nourish your mind.

I can’t wait to see the showcase gardens, beautiful borders and everything else that this year’s show has to offer. I’m planning to attend on the first day, and I just know my phone will be full of photos - I’ll share some shortly after our visit on Instagram, but will also start another series of posts from the 2024 show just as soon as I’ve sorted through all my photos!

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was as fabulous as ever!

Eight cards with a zing for spring

For my last card subscription box I was convinced I’d jumped ahead a season, though looking out of the window it was obvious I hadn’t - however I now do have the spring season cards from The Card Boys, and they’re good.

A BOAT BOBBING ON A LAKE IN A RICHLY VERDANT HAVEN

ARTIST: JESSICA SMITH

This month my strong favourites are the two designs by Jessica Smith and I’m opening and closing this post with her cards - one of which I’ve already used, there’s no higher recommendation is there than to actually share these cards with others. Though I’ll admit I’ve not been so good at that lately and have been accumulating quite a stash, but a pretty stash so it’s not all bad!

ARTIST: MARTHA DUNCAN

The simplicity of the design above is striking and I know that I’ll be struggling to part with both this one and the one below with the cheeky chirrupy bird on the coffee pot!

ARTIST: CAROLE HILLMAN

ARTIST: MELISSA DONNE

TWO CHERRIES WITH FACES - LOOKING AT EACH OTHER AND THE WORDS MON CHERI BELOW

ARTIST: ROSIE FODEN

ARTIST: JESSICA SMITH

Each of these cards will I’m sure come in useful for many occasions and while I don’t know right now what they’ll be - I think I’ll know when I know if that makes sense. And that may also depend on the day, my mood and many other things, so I’m going to resist putting a label on them right now, but the one below just screams ‘when life gives you lemons’…

ARTIST: CAROLE HILLMAN

ARTIST: JESSICA SMITH

And so that’s it for another box of cards, and I’ll be doing my best over the next few months or so to make appropriate use of my pretty stash, but with plenty of birthdays and more coming up I don’t think that’ll be hard!

PS Also while I’ve been writing this post I’ve realised that our dresser top really needs a good sand - it’ll go on MOH’s list!