Week 16 : Mayenne
Hello and welcome to Helen Alice Johnson Artist in the garden. I am Helen and this week I am in a garden in Mayenne in Northern France. The garden is part of the chateau of Mayenne and its similar in many ways to previous gardens I have done. Last week I was in Carrouges. This one is similar in terms of its structure, but very different in terms of its formality. It is a much less formal garden and more of a herb garden, similar to the Secret Herb Garden in Edinburgh and the Medieval Garden in Lassey Les Chateaux.
One of the first things that strikes you about this garden is the beautiful blossom. There are several trees with the beautiful blossom at the moment - it is absolutely gorgeous. Additional to that are the shapes formed, not only by the garden itself but also by the chateau in the background. Especially the circular ball shapes - the way they’ve shaped the trees and the herbs. If you look at the trees above the blossom, you’ll see the mistletoe in the trees above, also ball shapes so everywhere you look you’ve got these ball shapes.
One of the really striking things about this garden is that its welcoming and friendly somehow. There was a family shading under a tree, just enjoying the piece and tranquillity.
So obviously the blossom is going to feature quite significantly in any painting that I do of this garden. As the photo shows, its absolutely beautiful at the moment, and its such a lovely day as well its shedding a real soft light on everything - so certainly in terms of colour it will be a soft painting with soft colours. There is also the rambling rosemary that you can see in the photos. with a soft violet/ lilac colours of that. Additional to that the formal shapes of the bay trees in a gorgeous ball shape, with some better than others in terms of their ‘roundness’! but they will also feature in terms of structure and composition.
So I hope you’ve enjoyed this and I hope that you’ll follow me on Instagram and keep up to date with Saturday in the Studio as well as a garden somewhere next week that I’ll be visiting - not sure where that will be yet, but I hope to see you there.
