The Sketchbook Project is brought to you by the Short Course programming team at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation. It is designed to bring you regular inspiration from the Gardens which can be used to draw, paint, stitch or print using the colours, textures and shapes from the images in your work whilst at home.
Join the conversation and share your creative responses on social media tagging @westdeancollege and @westdeangardens and using #westdeantogether
Fritillaria Meleagris is commonly known as the Snakeshead Fritillary (fritillary means chequered).
A) For a textile outcome, you can use the fritillary as a starting point for a chequered patchwork, or appliqué design using one colour on a white background.
B) Look at Charles Rennie Macintosh's fritillary watercolour and you will see he used the white of the paper and plum/crimson/maroon paint, leading you to think about negative space lino cuts and block prints with polystyrene or potato.
C) Use the repeat pattern within the petals to create your pattern using stitch or a lino cut.
D) Try a simple mark-making exercise using charcoal. Be inspired by the form and shapes of the flower head and stem, petals and grass fronds. Think about how the flower feels, visualise the soft touch of the petal and make that mark, rubbing in the charcoal with your finger, or a soft cloth. Use a rubber to work into the charcoal to make the pattern of the petals. Use sweeping strokes for the grass fronds. These responses could be used to start an abstracted idea, either by repetition or enlarging an area. Alternatively, look at the structure of the tree branches. Contrast your response to these different subjects.
E) Rather than a representational study, how about abstracting the information from the photograph? Use colour inspired by the purple and greenish-yellow, overlay with mark making inspired by the pattern on the petals, contrasting with the spiky grass fronds and the flowing shapes of the flower form. Complementary colours are at work here. Think about catching the vibrant colours, textures and form to unleash your creativity. Use any paint medium. There is a freedom in creating abstract art - it leaves room for intuition, serendipity and playfulness.
HORTICULTURE:
St Roche's Arboretum, 20 hectares, is one of the less well known delights within West Dean's designed landscape. Historically, the Arboretum has been known for its collection of large specimens of North American conifers that grow surprisingly well on the thin clay soils overlying chalk. Indeed, the late, internationally renowned, dendrologist Alan Mitchell commented on their quality by saying that "the Arboretum has all the character of a North American forest" and despite the depredations of weather and age this remains true to this day.
It is also the burial place of our founder, Edward James, who had a particular passion for trees and the arboretum and who specifically asked to be buried surrounded by the woody guardians that he loved so much.
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The alluring pink flowers of the Star Magnolia ‘Rosea’ in West Dean Arboretum fade to white over time. The Star Magnolia - originates from Japan, flowering in early spring and is a shrub not a tree, making it perfect for small gardens.
INSPIRATION:
The elegant magnolia tree has inspired artists and designers for many centuries.
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The pictures depict plants grown in our Tropical House at West Dean Gardens. One is a Spathiphyllum or Peace Lily which originates from the Tropical Americas and South East Asia. The other is Codiaeum `Petra’ which is from the Euphorbia family, native to Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia where it grows in open forests and scrub. They both require high humidity and not too much water at the roots. Both being ideally suited to a living room environment which can be warm with poor light levels.
INSPIRATION:
Many artists develop designs and compositions by focussing on the linear aspects of natural forms or landscapes.
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Rhododendrons are incredibly useful and valued plants in the garden. They can be either evergreen or deciduous and different species can provide flowers from late winter to early summer. Predominantly found in Asia, most Rhododendrons require a fertile, moist and reasonably drained soil. To achieve the best results in a garden, the soil should be acidic which makes the Rhododendrons in our Arboretum quite staggering, given the shallow and chalky soil of the area. Rhododendron ponticum was used as rootstocks for many more showy forms because of it’s tolerant and robust nature. In the Arboretum at this time of year, you can see the high percentage of the lilac flowered ponticum which would account for some of its success up there.
INSPIRATION:
The blowsy and voluptuous colours of the rhododendron flowers can’t not inspire you to paint and draw.
Painting – again you could start with a coloured ground. Perhaps using a vibrant pink or purple wash to begin with and then adding the green into the negative spaces. Think about colour mixing, how to achieve the perfect pink. Which red and which blue will achieve that perfect hue, intensity and value. You could make a series of experiments in colour to investigate colour theory. Which colour would complement this colour perfectly etc.
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