a garden art project

Our house is built on a steep hill, so much so that the very top of our garden is higher than the rooftop of our house. The previous owners had the steep garden terraced and we have a garden with 4 distinct levels, each of which has a different purpose. That said, the bottom level is pretty useless. It is close to the house and the next level is about 1.4 metres  higher, with a drab wall creating the boundary. I always think of this bottom level as a trench of sorts. One day I am hoping to extend the dining room all the way out to the wall and have a glass roof.

To brighten up the space, Richard paints the wall white every spring. About three years ago, Annie, Sam and I painted a rainbow on this wall, which really made a difference to our trench. This spring, rather than carefully painting around the rainbow, Richard painted the entire wall white again so that we could start with a blank canvas once more. A perfect spring holiday project, weather permitting. I had in mind a garden mural with beautiful flowers. If given a choice, I would have sketched the whole mural with pencil onto the wall to then carefully colour it in with a balanced mix of subtle flower colours and greens. Or maybe I would have invited some talented local graffiti artists over for an hour of spray painting. However, the wall art was to be the children's own work and they have of course different ideas of what is beautiful.

Armed with acrylic paint and paint brushes, Sam, Annie, James and Alistair started painting more or less at random. But that was ok with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annie was more or less in charge. She helped the little ones and argued with the big one. My main role was to make sure they didn't paint the house, inside and out, and to wipe multi-coloured foot prints off the dining room and kitchen floor before the water insoluble paint dried completely. I also had to provide food and drinks for the artists. 

The wall art took two days to complete because of course there are many other exiting things to do in the garden and painting is hard work. Annie and I made some "corrections" one evening, nothing major, just turn a half finished black tulip into a bumble bee, paint over some random splotches and dot the butterflies with spots. I also added some flowers to a neglected part of the wall and Annie painted over James' and Alistair's signatures because she decided they were not legible.

I love our new wall. It is no Banksy, I agree, but at least we won't wake up one day to find the mural gone from the garden and appear at auction! 

Our two week spring holiday is almost over, just two more days to go. The holiday passed quickly. We spent hours in various local parks and country parks, enjoyed many days at home doing nothing much at all, went for picnics and family walks and spent a day at the safari park in Blair Drummond.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. We like to keep it low key in this house but Richard and I usually hide chocolate eggs for the children to find and eat (and fight over). Afterwards, Richard and Sam will be leaving for a one night wild camping trip in the Campsies. I am hoping to do some sewing with the French doors open, watching the littler ones play in the garden.

Have a lovely Easter Sunday. Cx

P.S. Just in case you watched the news tonight: no it was not our car that caught fire in the lion enclosure!