A couple of days ago I made a chilly visit to Hotham Park where I caught up with John the gardener on his trusty steed. During winter there is a lot of trimming weeding and tidying to do be done. A few volunteers meet on Wednesdays to help but the task of keeping the park…
There was a bitter biting wind wind when I arrived in Hotham park for our fortnightly sketching group. We normally sketch outside for an hour then into the cafe for coffee and share but today the three of us migrated to the warm cafe to sketch from the windows there. I did manage one sketch…
For three Saturdays Boris the train has been turned into Santa’s express,well maybe forget the express bit, complete with a grotto in this little shed. He trundles round the park as usual but ends in the grotto. In view of the current train crisis at least this one is reliable!
Yesterday as I wandered around the Park I visited one of my favourite places, a rather wild area with a very old Elderberry tree in it. On the way I noticed the tree surgeons removing dead branches from tall trees. When I arrived to say hello to my tree I found it had been sawn…
This morning there was a heavy frost so I went to the sketching group at the park well wrapped up. The light was amazing and the hour went by very quickly. Nearly all the leaves are off the trees now and their bones show an amazing range of colours in the winter sun.
Last week I sat on cold sunny day to do some pastel sketching but today I joined the sketching group for our fortnightly draw. We were very quickly forced to the shelter of the cafe as the wind came up bringing sideways rain with it. The small pavilion I was in had not provided protection…
The other day I took a lot of shots of Hotham Park’s Crows but was amused by their antics in the gravel garden where they have their own private jacuzzi, private that is except for paparazzi like me.
A couple of days ago I posted plein-air pastel sketches. I usually take a few photos too. The frosts and wind will soon put an end to the show but if you are prepared to look in some of the hidden places gold can still be found.
This morning I had all sorts of plans to catch up on housework, finish some illustrations and move my geraniums to the garage for the winter but when my husband suggested it was a warm sunny day and so ideal for sketching in the park it didn’t take much arm twisting for me to hop…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, its just that there is so much to see in Hotham Park at the moment that its difficult to choose what to share. So here is a selection of things that caught my eye yesterday.
ritasspot, a blog about Hotham Park by it's Artist in Residence 