Summer is officially declared

Date: 28 May 2005 17:38:12

I know we've been in British Summer Time for a while, but today I can announce that I have declared summer officially open - by hanging out my washing on the line outside rather than indoors! I'm so happy - I love the smell of clothes that have dried outside, it's one of those simple pleasures that are so hard to explain, but everyone knows what you mean.

I guess if it rains you can blame me :)

I spent this afternoon in the garden - and this month's set of photos are here. I was very disappointed that, due to various going-away type things going on over these few weeks and financial pressures and suchlike I wasn't able to get to the Ship of Fools' Artists Meet this weekend (having been on the inaugural one in Gloucestershire a couple of years back), but I made up for it by doing a drawing of the garden myself this afternoon (I made sure I did the weeding first! Not that you'd be able to tell from the picture, as I'm not that hot on the details when it comes to drawing plants). So here's the photo that shows how what I was drawing looks like in real life:

And here's the picture itself:

I'm quite pleased with it actually (I narrowed and lengthened it from the photo, which didn't manage to get the roses and trees in the background). I don't think I've got the depth of the bed very well, it's a bit flat, but I was pleased with the chives, and with the ivy climbing the post (far left) and with my interpretation of the Nelly Moser clematis (a bit of artistic licence taken there as I didn't have the right colours). I think it's still a bit two-dimensional overall, but I can really see improvements from the stuff I drew a couple of years back, so I'm pretty happy with it overall.

[ETA: oooh, I was expecting thumbnails! Spot the amateur]
[ETA even more: Excited Rainbow Girl, I have given lots of links to photo-hosting sites on your blog]