I’ve been creating some spring garden art over the past few weeks. And I’m working in my little square mixed media sketchbook, which I’ve shared artwork from before in previous posts. (See Mindfulness Art Inspired by my Garden and Mixed Media Mindfulness Art Inspired by my Spring Garden for more). This year (and every year, actually), my spring garden art has been inspired largely by flowers and birds.
The little square sketchbook
I like to scribble around in this sketchbook with various pens, pencils and water-based paints. It’s a handy little book that I can carry round with me on my travels or take into the garden. I use it for fun, for experimentation, or for when I want to create mindfulness art.
On those occasions where I feel like I want to be creative but the inspiration isn’t flowing, I’ll often reach for this sketchbook and my Brusho paint powders. Because with these two ingredients, I can prepare some colourful backgrounds for future art. Basically, I sprinkle some Brush powder on a page, spray it with water and let the paint powder work its magic.
The result is random, and when it’s dry I’ll have a springboard for when I’m feeling more creatively inspired. Perfect for some spring garden art! It’s a lot more fun and interesting to scribble over these pre-made colourful backgrounds while I’m experimenting with other mixed media.
Garden bird art
It’s been very cute watching all the birdy activity this spring. Lots of nest-building, followed by baby birds hopping about.
This is my shed, which is where I feed the birds:
I sketched the picture with a black pen, keeping the style very loose. Kind of urban-sketch style. Then I used my watercolours to add some additional colour. A wash of browns and greens with blue and yellow, using broad, messy brushstrokes.
When that had dried, I used different pens and pencils to doodle over the top. I like adding dots and small shapes, it’s relaxing. It then becomes a piece of mindfulness art.
This is another page showing a wagtail feeding a baby wagtail. They’ve been visiting my garden several times a day for the last couple of weeks.
The background that I’d prepared previously on this page was already quite dynamic in the top right corner. So I drew the wagtails in the lower left corner to maximise the contrast.
I used coloured crayons for the ground and scribbled some shapes over the top.
Then I added some dots and crosses over the top of the dynamic Brusho background. I did this with black pen, a white paint marker and a pencil. It looks like a picture of space!
A birdy picnic area
Earlier this year I made a picnic area for the birds – this is Mrs Blackbird eating a peanut nugget:
The birds have no idea how cute they look, pecking away at the picnic table!
Near to the picnic area are my wellington boot planters – a DIY project from a few weeks ago. I spray painted an old pair of wellies yellow and planted some petunias in them. I love how quirky they look.
Spring garden art – flowers
As I’ve become more interested in gardening, I’ve realised that spring is a really exciting time in the garden. It’s enjoyable to see everything come to life after things have been mostly dormant over the winter.
Here are some aquilegias:
I’ve used watercolours and pencil crayons for additional colour.
I feel this is quite a chaotic and busy page. But I like it. Adding all the dots and scribbles was not chaotic at all – it was very calming. So it’s interesting that it’s ended up with that kind of energy.
The pre-made background on this next page was quite dark. I think I used the black Brusho powder, which actually has a lot of colours mixed in:
But I’ve managed to create contrast with a white paint marker. And I’ve used coloured crayons to draw in soft, multicoloured grasses behind the flowers. I really like this one.
This next piece of spring garden art is a bit more subtle. It’s inspired by my valerian plants, which are attractive when they flower.
I decorated them with black, white and neutral-coloured dots. Then I drew some small circles with a black pen and coloured them in with pencil crayon. That bit was mindfulness art, created during presence practice.
The woodland garden
I recently made a small, shady area of the garden into a woodland habitat.
Basically, I arranged lots of logs around some foxgloves and wild plants. A little haven for our beetle friends. It inspired this last piece of mixed media art that I’ve got for you today:
The colours are a bit psychedelic, but I really like this one.
In addition to all the various art mediums I’ve mentioned above, I also used watercolour pens for this piece of spring garden art. And I highlighted certain areas with metallic watercolour paints which makes it shimmer.
I think I’ll do some more in this vibrant style, with the watercolour pens – the end result is exciting to look at.
Final thoughts
The ‘woodland garden’ page unlocked a new colour palette for me. I wouldn’t normally create such bold art. But it was fun and is hypnotic to look at… I’ll have to create more!
I’ll keep sharing my mixed media pictures from this little sketchbook as-and-when, but that’s all I’ve got for now.
Take care, creative reader. Keep making art.