My Garden Journal - Art in Real Life #16
We were meant to live in a garden, longing to return to Eden - to how life should be.
Garden art journaling is one of the ways of returning to the garden of Eden, reflecting the deep desire for life to be as it should be.
Using photo reference of pictures of my plants taken with my phone, I idealized the drawings in the journal. When I drew the map of the circle from a bird’s eye view, the process prompted me to take out some of the flowers and give the vegetables more real estate to grow in. I moved the flowers to another part of the yard I had just cleared of some crowded plants. It all worked out.
Garden centerpiece
I’m not sure if putting the garden boxes directly outside our dining room french doors is a great idea or a foolish one. One thing for sure is that it is a visible idea. Being such a visually sensitive person, it provides its own measure of motivation. I still really like the iron centerpiece placed in the middle of the large circle planter box. The sugar snap peas have grown up even more than the photo shows below.
Drawing the garden journal pages
For these two pages, I stuck to the framework of the square. I find working within a simple shape is like gardening within a fence. It’s easier and often more pleasing than just putting something down on paper.
These pages were drawn with a fine line mechanical pencil before I painted them with watercolors.
Painting the pages
Painting the pages was a pleasure, like coloring with watercolors. I felt the pages come to life as I painted, especially around the ‘dirt’ in the round garden bed.
Like a garden…
Combining words and imagery is one of my favorite things to do. Scripture is a constant inspiration and encouragement to me.
“For everything there is a season,
a right time for every intention under heaven.”
“For just as the earth brings forth its plants,
or a garden makes its plants spring up,
so ADONAI, God, will cause victory and glory
to spring up before all the nations.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 & Isaiah 61:11 CJB
I appreciate you stopping by and hope you are inspired.