I stole a quiet moment to myself on the day I visited Sudeley Castle with my students. After teaching a lesson in the morning at our hotel, we drove to the castle, toured the house, meandered through the museum, had lunch at the onsite cafe and then roamed around the garden. That’s when I finally […]
Category: Gardening
Roses at Sudeley Castle
Sudeley Castle was decked out in summer roses during my last trip to the Cotswolds. It’s is one of my favorite places to visit during my Cotswolds workshop. It has it all: centuries of history, a dramatic royal back story, well-tended gardens, a museum, and a gorgeous Victorian Gothic chapel where an English queen is […]
Ruthie’s Garden
I spent a few days last week at my friend Ruthie’s house in the Pisgah Mountains near Brevard, NC, and had a chance to sketch part of her beautiful and expansive garden. Our pal Judy had flown in from Florida to join us, and we enjoyed four days of girlfriend time – laughing, talking, eating, […]
Biding Their Time…
Do you remember the beautiful gardens I had at Summerhill? I do. I’m reminded of them every day when I look out the windows of our new house and see nothing but a sea of mud in every direction. The contrast to the views I had last spring is hard to ignore. I remember the […]
Floral Watercolor Monograms – Part 1
We all know the challenge of trying to find a gift for the person who has everything. How do you find something that’s personal, useful, beautiful, and/or different from anything they already have? Well, here’s a great idea that I came up with for my mother and sister this past Christmas. This project was inspired […]
Three-View Rhododendron Sketch
It’s been a great year for rhododendrons here where I live in western Pennsylvania. FYI – The oranges & grape jelly on the bird feeder post are for the Baltimore orioles These bushes are right outside my kitchen window, so I get to enjoy these glorious blooms over the course of two weeks or so […]
Summerhill Sketching Hits the Road! (+ Corn & Basil Tart Recipe)
Every month I host “Sketching at Summerhill” here at my house. It offers an opportunity for my creative friends to get together, learn a little something, paint a bit, and enjoy some fun and fellowship away from the daily grind. I love having everyone come to my home in the summertime when the flowers are […]
Sunflowers!
10″ x 8″, ink & watercolor on 140 lb. watercolor paper I plant a packet of mixed sunflower seeds in my garden every summer. I water them, weed them, and prop them up when a storm blows through. I don’t harvest the seeds to eat or to fill our bird feeders. The birds usually cling […]
Blue Hydrangeas
My hydrangeas barely bloomed at all this year. The winter of 2014 was so harsh that every one of my hydrangea bushes died back, and it took all summer for them to recover and reach any size at all. Two of them began to blossom around the end of August and are now covered with […]
September Garden
With the cooler days we’re having now, I was feeling a little sad to see summer on its way out. I really enjoy all the flowering shrubs and perennials that brighten up our yard in the summertime, and I’m just not ready to say goodbye to them yet. Then I started looking a little closer […]
