painting the hedgerows in a jug

I have a squirrel buster sunflower seed feeder! I have had a bumper spring -baby bluetits, great tits, starlings, blackbirds, robins, chaffinches and woodpeckers being fed at my feeding station. but also squirrels and wood pigeons, and the squirrels had chewed off all the plastic bits of the sunflower feeder, the only one not protected. this squirrel buster is great, the weight of the squirrel (or woodpigeon) closes the feeder.

sadly found this beautiful baby great tit, no idea what killed it. all that work the parents have put into growing this bundle of bones flesh and feathers gone in an instant.

also you can see one plant of the wonderful display I have had of foxgloves, still going. lots of purple flowers.

and this jugful of wild flowers has mallow in it, the same purple – picked up by the cottons I’m getting rid of from the stock room …

I wanted to paint the local landscape in a different way and thought of cutting the tall weeds from Cakes lane, as I was pushing my way through the towering growth the other day. in fact, I have most of them in my garden, or in the lane just outside my gate.

the canvas a little smaller than that huge mass of vegetation in the jug

the hogweed leaves are full of pattern. I’ve sprayed some of the background with gold, for a change

keeping it loose. palette knife mostly.

finding it an adrenaline high, needing some relaxation in between to recover.

left it at this yesterday, glad of a slight cool down in the weather

then this afternoon I added in a few densifications

and some sorrels from the garden

and some clarifications …

really enjoyed this, I’ll have to do some more.