Week 23: Lucie’s Garden

Hello and welcome to Helen Alice Johnson Artist in the Garden. This week I am in a garden in Streatley. This is the garden of Lucie Dutton and it’s a private garden and absolutely magnificent. It’s a garden that I have already painted, earlier in the year as part of a commission but I am back here to have a look with a view to making a large abstract painting. So let’s go and have a look. So this garden is made up of several parts really, there are all sorts of different elements to it - so here we’re going through a secret passage way almost, which takes you ambling around through to another section of garden. You can see hens ambling about in this part of the garden and everywhere feels kind of relaxed and informal. So as we pop out of the secret passageway, we appear in a much larger area. It looks really informal, but clearly there has been a lot work put in to make it look really informal. It’s encouraging us to amble over to the top of the garden where there is this lovely seating area. It really is a garden, or a gardener who has encouraged us to sit and look and enjoy, again reminding me of a painting.

Another part of the garden and another seat. This one standing alone under a tree and Lucie informs me that this is Poet’s Corner because there was actually someone who came to the garden and recited poetry which you can absolutely one hundred percent imagine happening. It has that really romantic air to it this garden, and is quite beautiful.

I love the orange of the buildings and the green of the garden. I’ve talked a lot previously about green and orange and they were mainly in the more winter months but here it’s as vivid again that bright orange of the buildings against the green of the garden. Also that shows really well that contrast between man (people) and nature so that would certainly be something that I put into any painting I did of this garden - as well as the dogs of course, because they are following me around - I think keeping an eye on me!

So as I’ve already said, this garden has many elements to it. We’ve been in the large, informal back garden, and are now walking around the side of the house to the front garden. In many ways again, similar to a painting with all those elements. Similar to an abstract painting in particular. Especially in the way that the garden looks as if it has just kind of happened but actually you know that to have got to this stage it’s got to have been a huge amount of work.

So, I hope you’ve enjoyed that walk around. I certainly have - it’s an absolute privilege to be in this garden and to have been invited to come and have a look. I feel almost humbled - like I’m in amongst a true artist. I’ve said before that a garden is like a canvas and a gardener is like a painter. So, lots and lots to think about. Almost too much and Lucie has told me certainly that this garden is at it’s best in early spring and late summer so I will almost certainly be coming back to this garden in late summer to see it in a totally different light and work on a painting from then. So thank you ever so much for watching. I hope to see you in a garden somewhere next week and also if you keep up to date with me on Saturday in the Studio and follow me on Instagram, and you’ll see how this painting is progressing as well as others that I’ve got in the books! Okay, thanks again for watching - Bye bye.