The Reluctant Gardener

I painted this after a visit to the National Trust property at Canons Ashby. The house is still closed but the garden is open. You have to pre-book the date you want to visit and the time of your arrival, but it really isn’t difficult.

The day we were there was the one day of the week without constant rain, and the only time we did have a shower we were sitting safely under a large parasol enjoying a cup of tea!

There are plenty of things dotted about the garden as though the gardener has just gone off to collect something and will be back in a minute, or in this case perhaps forty minutes! This gives one the chance to include relevant ‘extras’ in the composition even though they may not actually be that close to the centre of interest. In other words using your ‘artist’s licence’ to tell a story. Likewise you can also omit things which are there if you think they do nothing to add to the story.