Sometimes I’m saddened by the fact that I didn’t know Vanessa Bell was Virginia Wolff’s sister. I was an art major at one point but shifted to Literature, where I met Virginia. I have since neglected much of my creative self engulfed in raising sons, prioritizing social activities or just inane busyness. Your focus on lovely mid century garden painting is so energizing and speaks to my heart; and I’m wondering why I prefer Duncan Grant’s to Vanessa’s. Perhaps the vibrancy? The ever so slight more clarity for me? And lastly, thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your spiffed up artist studio and your late March garden with you readers. You cannot know how much all of this is needed in our current upside country. If Duncan Grant can paint that incredible, delightful garden path during the ugliest war in history, then we can get through this now. I will be ordering both of your recommended artist biographies. Thank you!
Thank you very much, Maureen, I am so glad you enjoyed it and your message means a great deal. It is so easy to neglect our creative lives. Like you, I read Literature ( as my parents thought art pointless) and it took me a long while to come back to it. I am very conscious of how we all need something hopeful in these troubled times. Each day the news is so hard to listen to. I love Grant's garden path painting and when I saw it last year I found it so uplifting. I do hope you enjoy "Rural Lives" , it's a remarkable book and do let me know what you think.
As always a delight to read. I have just bought my first Virginia Woolf book, "Moments of being". I keep a diary, and I try and write something every day. About four years ago I went through a really bleak time; our house kept flooding, my husband was under immense pressure and stress, and well as being unwell. I too had a heart scare: AF treated and going well. But I sank into depression. I decided that I would write five things each day.
Positive thoughts
Stop Exercises.
Spoke to fellow travellers
Moments of being
Poem of the day
I had no idea that Virginia Woolf had used the phrase, but she suffered too, not surprising.
With the love and support of my husband I pulled through and we have reached safe harbour
Your posts always lift me. Thank you for sharing your personal spaces.
How extraordinary that you used the same phrase. The Asheham notebook is very different from her other diaries it seems and I am going to try to get a copy of her first volume from the library. The entries quoted affected me very much.
Paying attention to small things really helps when times are hard, it helps you focus and separate from your own distress.
Flooding is awful and can imagine the impact it must have had. I am so glad you have reached safe harbour. Thank you very much for reading this and for your support.
I loved the Rural Hours, and it's directed my reading for months now. I've re-read Rosamund Lehmann with added pleasure now that I "know" her a little better.
I loved her when I was a student and read everything, but it is high time I read her again. Have you read her biography by Selina Hastings? It is well worth reading.
A completely delightful red Deborah. I’m also a trained artist, specialising in pen and ink portraiture. I’ve not drawn for a number of years now, concentrating on my garden as my canvas, and my writing. Thanks also for the lovely shout out. Definitely the best 10 minutes of my day! Thank you.
Thank you, Mike. I didn't realise that you were an artist too. I have always shifted between the two and love the next couple of months in the garden, so aim to make the most of it. I am so pleased you liked it.
It does take away some of the pleasure for creating for it's own sake. I think doing something else for money has much to say for it. And being a gardener is a huge pleasure in itself.
The bottom bit of the garden is lovely in spring. Much of it has been flooded over winter and I feared it would never dry out. I think the primroses have loved the damp!
Dear Deborah, thanks so much for the tour of your studio (that window, that garden!) and the videos/photos of other studios. Fascinating. I went to a lovely exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery two/three years ago looking at this very topic. Emily x
I would have loved to have seen that exhibition. I find artist's studios so interesting as they vary so much. I was desperate to get in David Tress's and tidy up!
What a wonderfully rich post, with so many aspects - the garden and its evolution, the influence of Charleston, the artist’s studio and some suggested reading. I shall have to go back and read it again!
I totally agree! And it's lovely to see your studio space. I love the idea of remembering spaces one has loved in creating a fresh start with a room or place. I am looking forward to seeing how your garden transforms over the coming weeks and months if you'd like to share the images with us. I recently came across a picture of our garden soon after we moved in - it's incredible how it's changed since from mostly bare lawn to something quite different.
I will share the pictures as it will be interesting to record the changes, especially at this time year when it all happens so quickly. I am so glad to have reclaimed my studio space, it feels much better and I feel much more inclined to get stuck in again. Thank you for reading it.
❤️❤️Thank you for the tour through gardens, paintings of them, and delicious literary bon bons, Deborah Vass! New to this offering, my friend Gail sent me here, I am transfixed by the full sensory treatment of sight, sound, textures, and even scents of the gardens and rooms. Thanks from my fully grateful heart, ~❤️~ Melinda
Lovely to see your revived studio, with such a pleasing view from the window! I enjoyed the interlacing with the Charleston garden and paintings too; aren't gardens such special places? So lucky to have one - I had breakfast in ours today for the first time this year, serenaded by a Blackbird soliliquy in the apple tree (that's bearing hints of pink buds) and a vibrating Wren in the hedge! Wishing you plenty of spring inspiration and creativity!
Thank you very much, Liz. I think you are a little more ahead than Norfolk but hopefully in a week or so, I can have a breakfast outside with the blackbirds!
I have just visited Charleston for the first time and enjoyed it so much. My only regret was not seeing the garden in full bloom. I love the colours in the house which remind me of our house. When I arrived home I had planned a studio sort out and tidy but decided that I would paint it too in colours left over from the house. I am very pleased with its new look and (temporary) tidiness and organisation. I’ve posted photos on Instagram to remind me of what it is like when it’s tidy! Thank you for posting about Charleston at such an appropriate time for me and also for all your recommendations which I will follow up soon. Now the sun is shining and I will get back to my other project - garden tidying!
I first visited in September a few years ago and the garden was ablaze with dahlias, it was a glorious sight and I gave up a couple of my veg beds to grow them! Did you visit Monk's House? The garden is very different, but equally lovely.
I been been looking through your studio photos, it is so beautiful. I confess that your feed was one of my very favourites when I was there. That orange is heavenly with the grey shelves and that perfect green apple next to it!( is it a F and B colour?)
I am so pleased you had such a lovely visit and writing this made me want to go again. Their use of colour is so exhilarating.
Happy gardening and thank you for your lovely message.
The studio looks great Deborah. Great anyway with that window onto the garden, but more workable now I’m sure. It’s quite a Vanessa Bell window isn’t it?
It is a lovely view in spring. The flooding over the winter has now almost completely retreated and the primroses are extraordinary. I love the framing of the window and hope to use that!
Dear Deborah, thank you for the illuminating peep into your working life. I love your studio – and I won't say you're lucky, because you quite obviously deserve it!
Thank you, Rod! It has been alot of work (and I really hope the wretched rats don't come back...) but it does feel so much better. Thank you for your continued support and lovely to hear from you.
The clean slate garden looks very fresh and ready for the growing season. And how envious I am of your high stone walls! It's always fascinating for a non-artist to see an artist's studio. The dawn view out over your garden is so peaceful, and yes, you must have gained so much light.
The wall you can see is the building next door but one and is the local Baptist church - I would love a walled garden! The view over the garden in spring is so lovely and I am really looking forward to the blossom again. Thank you very much for reading it.
Sometimes I’m saddened by the fact that I didn’t know Vanessa Bell was Virginia Wolff’s sister. I was an art major at one point but shifted to Literature, where I met Virginia. I have since neglected much of my creative self engulfed in raising sons, prioritizing social activities or just inane busyness. Your focus on lovely mid century garden painting is so energizing and speaks to my heart; and I’m wondering why I prefer Duncan Grant’s to Vanessa’s. Perhaps the vibrancy? The ever so slight more clarity for me? And lastly, thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your spiffed up artist studio and your late March garden with you readers. You cannot know how much all of this is needed in our current upside country. If Duncan Grant can paint that incredible, delightful garden path during the ugliest war in history, then we can get through this now. I will be ordering both of your recommended artist biographies. Thank you!
Thank you very much, Maureen, I am so glad you enjoyed it and your message means a great deal. It is so easy to neglect our creative lives. Like you, I read Literature ( as my parents thought art pointless) and it took me a long while to come back to it. I am very conscious of how we all need something hopeful in these troubled times. Each day the news is so hard to listen to. I love Grant's garden path painting and when I saw it last year I found it so uplifting. I do hope you enjoy "Rural Lives" , it's a remarkable book and do let me know what you think.
I really enjoyed this! I currently have an exhibition called Meet Me In The Garden up. As part of it I interviewed people about their gardens. If you are interested here are the interviews https://meetmeinthegarden.bandcamp.com/album/meet-me-in-the-garden
Thank you very much and I shall pop over and have a look!
As always a delight to read. I have just bought my first Virginia Woolf book, "Moments of being". I keep a diary, and I try and write something every day. About four years ago I went through a really bleak time; our house kept flooding, my husband was under immense pressure and stress, and well as being unwell. I too had a heart scare: AF treated and going well. But I sank into depression. I decided that I would write five things each day.
Positive thoughts
Stop Exercises.
Spoke to fellow travellers
Moments of being
Poem of the day
I had no idea that Virginia Woolf had used the phrase, but she suffered too, not surprising.
With the love and support of my husband I pulled through and we have reached safe harbour
Your posts always lift me. Thank you for sharing your personal spaces.
How extraordinary that you used the same phrase. The Asheham notebook is very different from her other diaries it seems and I am going to try to get a copy of her first volume from the library. The entries quoted affected me very much.
Paying attention to small things really helps when times are hard, it helps you focus and separate from your own distress.
Flooding is awful and can imagine the impact it must have had. I am so glad you have reached safe harbour. Thank you very much for reading this and for your support.
I loved the Rural Hours, and it's directed my reading for months now. I've re-read Rosamund Lehmann with added pleasure now that I "know" her a little better.
I loved her when I was a student and read everything, but it is high time I read her again. Have you read her biography by Selina Hastings? It is well worth reading.
I'll have to add that to my list, thank you!
A completely delightful red Deborah. I’m also a trained artist, specialising in pen and ink portraiture. I’ve not drawn for a number of years now, concentrating on my garden as my canvas, and my writing. Thanks also for the lovely shout out. Definitely the best 10 minutes of my day! Thank you.
Thank you, Mike. I didn't realise that you were an artist too. I have always shifted between the two and love the next couple of months in the garden, so aim to make the most of it. I am so pleased you liked it.
I spent two years at art college pursuing illustration and graphic design, but it’s purely a hobby, when the garden allows!
I sometimes think it is better to have art as a hobby, it does take the pressure off!
That’s exactly why I made that decision, Deborah. I worked for a little while in a local Disney art studio, and the pressure was immense.
It does take away some of the pleasure for creating for it's own sake. I think doing something else for money has much to say for it. And being a gardener is a huge pleasure in itself.
Your studio looks very inspiring - especially with the view over the garden. Thanks for sharing.
The bottom bit of the garden is lovely in spring. Much of it has been flooded over winter and I feared it would never dry out. I think the primroses have loved the damp!
Dear Deborah, thanks so much for the tour of your studio (that window, that garden!) and the videos/photos of other studios. Fascinating. I went to a lovely exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery two/three years ago looking at this very topic. Emily x
I would have loved to have seen that exhibition. I find artist's studios so interesting as they vary so much. I was desperate to get in David Tress's and tidy up!
What a wonderfully rich post, with so many aspects - the garden and its evolution, the influence of Charleston, the artist’s studio and some suggested reading. I shall have to go back and read it again!
Thank you, Fionnula, I kept thinking of things to add!
I totally agree! And it's lovely to see your studio space. I love the idea of remembering spaces one has loved in creating a fresh start with a room or place. I am looking forward to seeing how your garden transforms over the coming weeks and months if you'd like to share the images with us. I recently came across a picture of our garden soon after we moved in - it's incredible how it's changed since from mostly bare lawn to something quite different.
I will share the pictures as it will be interesting to record the changes, especially at this time year when it all happens so quickly. I am so glad to have reclaimed my studio space, it feels much better and I feel much more inclined to get stuck in again. Thank you for reading it.
❤️❤️Thank you for the tour through gardens, paintings of them, and delicious literary bon bons, Deborah Vass! New to this offering, my friend Gail sent me here, I am transfixed by the full sensory treatment of sight, sound, textures, and even scents of the gardens and rooms. Thanks from my fully grateful heart, ~❤️~ Melinda
Thank you very much, what a lovely message with which to begin the day! I am so glad you enjoyed it and for letting me know.
A glorious and beautifully rich post, Deborah. And thank you for sharing your photographs 🧡
Thank you very much, that is so lovely of you.
💚
Gorgeous! These paintings are the dream
Aren't they just? Bursting with Spring.
Lovely to see your revived studio, with such a pleasing view from the window! I enjoyed the interlacing with the Charleston garden and paintings too; aren't gardens such special places? So lucky to have one - I had breakfast in ours today for the first time this year, serenaded by a Blackbird soliliquy in the apple tree (that's bearing hints of pink buds) and a vibrating Wren in the hedge! Wishing you plenty of spring inspiration and creativity!
Thank you very much, Liz. I think you are a little more ahead than Norfolk but hopefully in a week or so, I can have a breakfast outside with the blackbirds!
I have just visited Charleston for the first time and enjoyed it so much. My only regret was not seeing the garden in full bloom. I love the colours in the house which remind me of our house. When I arrived home I had planned a studio sort out and tidy but decided that I would paint it too in colours left over from the house. I am very pleased with its new look and (temporary) tidiness and organisation. I’ve posted photos on Instagram to remind me of what it is like when it’s tidy! Thank you for posting about Charleston at such an appropriate time for me and also for all your recommendations which I will follow up soon. Now the sun is shining and I will get back to my other project - garden tidying!
I first visited in September a few years ago and the garden was ablaze with dahlias, it was a glorious sight and I gave up a couple of my veg beds to grow them! Did you visit Monk's House? The garden is very different, but equally lovely.
I been been looking through your studio photos, it is so beautiful. I confess that your feed was one of my very favourites when I was there. That orange is heavenly with the grey shelves and that perfect green apple next to it!( is it a F and B colour?)
I am so pleased you had such a lovely visit and writing this made me want to go again. Their use of colour is so exhilarating.
Happy gardening and thank you for your lovely message.
The studio looks great Deborah. Great anyway with that window onto the garden, but more workable now I’m sure. It’s quite a Vanessa Bell window isn’t it?
It is a lovely view in spring. The flooding over the winter has now almost completely retreated and the primroses are extraordinary. I love the framing of the window and hope to use that!
Dear Deborah, thank you for the illuminating peep into your working life. I love your studio – and I won't say you're lucky, because you quite obviously deserve it!
Thank you, Rod! It has been alot of work (and I really hope the wretched rats don't come back...) but it does feel so much better. Thank you for your continued support and lovely to hear from you.
The clean slate garden looks very fresh and ready for the growing season. And how envious I am of your high stone walls! It's always fascinating for a non-artist to see an artist's studio. The dawn view out over your garden is so peaceful, and yes, you must have gained so much light.
The wall you can see is the building next door but one and is the local Baptist church - I would love a walled garden! The view over the garden in spring is so lovely and I am really looking forward to the blossom again. Thank you very much for reading it.