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Posts Tagged ‘kew gardens’

This time last week I went up to Kew Gardens for a quick peek at the Orchid Festival.  I’m not a huge fan of orchids in general, but there is something very decadent about seeing them en masse, and I like to keep my eyes peeled for the more unusual varieties.

ss 03-03-2013

If you live in or near London and want to visit Kew then it’s always worth a visit whatever the time of year, but you might be put off by the entrance fee as tickets cost £16 (£14 for concessions).  That is, without doubt, a lot of money to pay to wander around a garden, no matter how nice.  However, if you’re going with a friend, and you’ll be able to go back at least once more during the year, then becoming a Friend of Kew is a brilliant investment.  An individual membership costs £69 (£59 if you pay by Direct Debit), and that’s valid for one year and you can take one guest with you for free every time you visit – so if you go twice in one year, taking someone with you each time, you’ve already made a saving.  Just a little handy hint for you!

Thanks for stopping by, and please do visit Jenna and Hayley to see what they’ve been sketching this week.

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It seems to be busy week upon busy week here at The Gift Shed, so much so that I feel a bit dazed!  What have I actually been up to over the past seven days?  Working like a demon in my studio, taking my bike out for a couple of rides, a fireworks display on Monday evening, sewing until gone midnight on Thursday evening (craft night), a day out at Kew Gardens on Friday followed by an evening at the Natural History Museum

…which was brilliant (they were filming The Museum of Curiosity, with Terry Pratchett as one of the guest curators).

I am knackered though, and expect to be well nigh dead by Sunday evening (I’m working – gardening work – today!).  That’s all that’s to be found in my sketchbook at the moment, next week I hope to find time to carry on with the EDM challenges!

Jenna over at Timballoo is bound to have a pretty sketch for us today, so pop along to her blog to find out what it is.

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Our host for this month is the ever modest Rachel over at The Awesome Lady ;)   Click here to visit her blog and find out who else is playing along.  I’m a day late with my submissions, but better late than never right?!

Inspiration

On Saturday I visited the Warner Bros. studio at Leavesden and had a whale of a time looking around the Harry Potter exhibition there.  I absolutely adore the Harry Potter books and constantly use them as a source of inspiration.  I took oodles of photographs whilst I was there, so I thought I’d just pick a random arty shot for this category! (Bonus points if you know which film this piece of scenery is from)

Something I made

A close up of the vintage school desk I revamped last month.

Changing seasons

Autumn is definitely here, and the leaves are just starting to flush from green at Kew Gardens.  I plan to go back in the next few weeks to see what should be a spectacular display of reds, yellows and oranges as all the leaves start to change before they fall.

Doodles/drawings

Once upon a time my art teacher did a lovely charcoal portrait of me.  I have it pinned up in my studio, and here’s a close up.

Motifs: music

Music doesn’t play much of a part in my life.  I never know what’s in the charts, and really I rarely listen to music at all (I prefer audio books when I’m at work, or silence).  I do love to see music on paper though, there’s something very attractive about those notes all down in black.  I have some vintage sheet music in my studio which I use every now and then to cover books, so I chose that as my subject for this photo.

Jenna over at Timballoo is our host for October, so please pay her a visit in the next few days to find out what the topics will be.

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Our host for this month is Ruth over at The Goldhawk Project, click here to visit her blog and find out who else is playing along.

Inspiration

I’ve not done much in the way of crafting this month at all, but I have been catching up with a lot of reading.  I only intended to read one book but then got hooked into reading an entire series (A Song of Ice & Fire) so I guess the first book was pretty inspirational!

Something I made

As mentioned above it has been a very quiet month in the studio, so here is a photo of something made by another artist!  Two Falling Spoons, by David Nash, currently on display at Kew Gardens.

Old

I love this old water fountain at Kew Gardens

Surprise

I got these beautiful notecards through the post recently, a surprise from a friend :)

Hearts

Yummy biscuits!

Rachel over at The Awesome Lady is our host for September, go and see what topics she’s chosen :)

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Easter at Kew Gardens

I went to Kew Gardens on Friday and came back with lots of photographs, so I thought I’d skip Sunday Sketchblog in favour of these photos instead.

And finally, one of the things I like about going to Kew is seeing the beautiful houses on Kew Green.  There are two in particular which always catch my eye and at this time of year they look incredible with their wisteria in flower…

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Yesterday I visited Kew Gardens for the first time in 13 months.  The last time I visited I was with my father, and it was his last trip to see the gardens so going back was quite an emotional occasion.  I’m glad that I went, and it seems fitting that it was on the occasion of the winter solstice.  Midwinter always feels like the start of something new: the days start to lengthen, the sun begins to warm the earth more, and we’re heading back towards spring.  I let my Kew membership lapse after my father died, but I renewed it yesterday and hope to start visiting the gardens on a regular basis again.

Here are some photographs from yesterday, showing some of the gorgeous clear weather and beautiful winter colour.

The red stems of cornus, seen from the Sackler Crossing

The Sackler Crossing

More vibrant cornus

View across the Thames

The unassuming but sweetly scented blooms of Osmanthus heterophyllus

Bright red rowan berries

White rowan berries

Callicarpa berries almost look false, they’re such a bright purple

A bee enjoying a camellia blossom in the sunshine

The Times Eureka Garden

The sun starting to go down on the shortest day

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I’ve decided to have a break from Project 365.  Things are going to be quite manic here for the foreseeable future and I suspect that taking a photograph every day is going to be the last thing on my mind.  I’ll still share photos that I’ve taken, but it won’t be on a regular basis.

Today I went to Kew Gardens with my dad.  We both have season tickets, but it’s been quite a long time since we went there together.  We had a lovely day, and were particularly delighted to discover that there are now butterflies in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

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A quick stroll through Kew

It’s been a while since I last went to Kew Gardens, so I went for a quick stroll today.  It was absolutely glorious weather, much sunnier than I had been expecting (I ended up with fresh tan lines – I thought I was done with tanning for this year!).  It was quite a speedy stroll, from Victoria Gate to Main Gate via the Palm House and the Pagoda Tree.  I stopped by the Palm House to take in a quick sketch, but not before I was sucked into the gift shop.  It’s a terrible temptation and I could easily spend a fortune whenever I go in, but today I was very restrained and treated myself to one book and a bar of Kew’s own rose chocolate.

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09/09/2010

I went to Kew Gardens today, so as you can imagine I was rather spoilt for choice in terms of subjects for photography.  In the end I settled on this, a close up of the twining stems of Wisteria sinensis.  This magnificent specimen is trained over a wrought iron arbour.  The sinuous twisting stems which twine around the dark metal are beautiful: both in summer when the plant is in leaf (and flower) and in the winter when the naked form is starkly visible.  The strength of the plant is immense, as evidenced by the fact that in places the metal has started to bow under the pull of the stems as they grow.  One of my favourite places in Kew.

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A random couple drinking coffee in Kew Gardens; Richmond Green; Westfield shopping centre.

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