Anticipating a studio move.

I was down at the 'Country retreat' earlier in the week, planting a few more fruit trees and some fruit bushes (currants and gooseberries) though the wildlife will probably eat most of these, (deer the shrubs and Birds the berries of any bushes that survive)  I also decided where to position my studio when I move it during the summer.  I have decided to pop it down here with a north facing view.

 

 

It will be about sixty yards from the cottage, far enough away to be 'at work' but close enough to pop home for a cup of tea.  There is a little spring running in front of it, in which I will create a couple of weirs to give me more sound from the water, I intend putting a pond in lower down, but that will be in front of the cottage to the left of this picture.  Some of our neighbours were particularly interested in what I was doing... but I don't expect they will really be bothered.

 

I decided to keep the Studio away from beside the stream as I wan't to create a walk alongside it rather than have the studio in view of the cottage.  Where I am putting it is hidden from the cottage until we walk up the Bohreen (small narrow road) as it will be screened by trees and hedging.

We are looking forward to our move to Sligo, and every little bit we accomplish leads us nearer, although there is still lots of work to be done.  At the moment doing it as we are, is a pleasure, and we are making our plans for the work more concrete as we go, because we are letting the feel of the cottage and land influence our descisions.  Most of our plans and research are now done, and we can start implementing them over the summer.  It will be a labour of love, assuming we get suitable weather this year, if it is as wet as last year work will be considerably slowed down.

Back from Monet's world, and into my own...

 Here are some of the promised Photographs from Giverny.  The gardens are beautiful, if a little crowded for any real atmosphere.
I did a couple of watercolour sketches while I was there, just for the sake of doing it as much as anything else.
We wandered through the house (surprisingly spacious) and studio (not as big as I expected) also and explored Monet's collection of Japanese prints which are on display on the walls where hed left them.

We visited the Orangerie the following day to see the Waterlilly paintings in situ (as well as the other art on view downstairs) .A pleasing experience enhanced by the visit to the gardens. 

the watergarden

 

the main avenue

the river Ru

the sketching artist

view to the Japanese bridge

 the lily pond from beside the bridge

 

I'm busy fishing for the next two weeks, but I'm going to try to get started on some work.   Monet's waterlillies have encouraged me to go large again.  looking around at the expansive canvases reminded me why I love to paint big canvases.  I think the recent smaller work may have stifled my creativity somewhat, but it's OK.  I'm cured.

My studio is now in place

I still have to do work around it though. The tree to the left will need pruning back a bit. I need to build a bit of a porch in front to allow access to the door. I also need to connect a reinforced electric cable from the hous into the cabin. I will probably paint it green too. I will start planting around the edges with creeping/climbing plants to soften the edges and I will build window boxes for the front in the spring.

I have done a small, adjusted photo in paint to give an idea of the size behind the tree. Another gives an idea of what I may do for access

Iam looking forward to moving in.

My new Studio

is almost ready, the groundworks have been completed. The Portacabin arrives at 8am in the morning, and hopefully will be in position by 10 am. I will take a pic tomorrow and try to upload it. I then need to organise the bridge to get into the studio....hmmmm

Here is a not-to-scale plan of our garden, with the proposed position of the studio. The Garden is 65 feet by 26 approximately for scale.