Rural, Rusty and Gorgeous

Maybe it a childhood spent rummaging around many a rust filled box of bric-a-brac that my farming grandfather hoarded "just in case he might need it"! or the sheer joy I used to experience whenever I spent the weekend on the farm with grandad (feeding out the hay from the back of the old ox-blood red tractor was a particular favourite chore - not) -  but I have a total love of rusted iron, aged timber and ancient rural buildings and infrastructure.  You can imagine then my delight at the new trend for cor-ten steel!  Can't help but adore the whole concept of something with a patina - in a landscape it somehow provides a comfy lived in feel - like an well worn dry-as-a-bone - the more its allowed to weather the better it all becomes.  Or maybe it is the delight in knowing, that at the edge of everything we do as humans are the sticky fingers of nature ready to gradually embrace our constructions over time and slowly and surely begin to take over?

Here are a few of my favourite images from from my travels throughout NZ that reflect this concept...

Renee Davies & Geraldine Bayly Landscape Award for Kaukapakapa Project

The work that Geraldine Bayly (from Kaipara Coast Landscape Architecture) and I collaborated on for the local community of Kaukapakapa just won a Distinction award at the 2013 Resene NZILA Pride of Place Landscape Awards.  Picture above is of us having just received the award from CEO of Resene at the gala awards dinner event at the newly refurbished Auckland Art Gallery.

The citation from the judges was as follows:

A selection of the award winners were then chosen to be part of an innovative exhibition of landscape architecture work at Karanga Plaza outside the Auckland Events Centre (see below) - our panel is the 2nd one in.

The detail of the panel was as follows:

It was a wonderful way to display a range of landscape projects and get the interest of passers by.

Living Roof Magazine Articles

I've was asked to write a couple of articles on living roofs for two magazines recently, Earth Building and Organic NZ.

It is always great to be able to promote how easy to build and beautiful living roofs can be in the environment.  For the Organic NZ article I show-cased a retrofit of my own chook shed  with a living roof (see blog link above to Violet Hill Farm post on the process of constructing the living roof).

I was recently in Queenstown and visited the Remarkables Primary School building which has a very large sedum and thyme covered living roof.  You get a great view of it as you fly into Queenstown as it is directly under the flight path for the airport.

As these photos show the roof is looking great and has been designed to ensure students can use the roof space - a great example of maximising opportunities.

NZ Gardener Illustrations

Last year I started to illustrate the feature gardens for New Zealand Gardener Magazine.  It is quite a challenge to interpret a mix of resources (aerial photos, garden photos, websites and owner sketches) into an illustration reflective of the garden design and layout to compliment and provide context to the garden photographs in the magazine.

Whenever possible, I try to visit the gardens (if they are local) as it not only gives me a chance to visit some wonderful gardens, but is enormously helpful in developing the illustration.  The garden featured above I visited - a beautiful and characterful garden in New Lynn - such inspiring use of colour in the garden with pot features as shown below.

It's fascinating as a designer myself to see the experience the owners design process through illustrating their garden design.

One of the more challenging illustrations was a cemetery in Dunedin - a heritage rose trail.

The illustrations are usually plan views - but sometimes i'll try an axonometric to give some three dimensional interest - especially for the smaller gardens like the one above from Christchurch.

I use watercolour techniques to colour the ink line drawings - a passion from my days at the English Gardening School learning botanical painting.  I think the vibrancy of the colours and readability of the images is helped with this technique - plan views can so often be difficult to decipher.

The owners are delighted to receive the original watercolour illustration as a gift as they are larger and more subtle in their colours than the magazine copy.

If anyone is interested in an illustration of their garden/property don't hesitate to contact me.

Discovering Botanical Colours

 

I can't believe that it has been so long since my last blog -just highlights how busy life is and how it is often hard to fit in the small moments of reflection...

I've started 2013 off with the hope of rectifying that - beginning by reconnecting with nature and the stunning beauty of the plant kingdom.  Immersed for five days in a workshop by inspirational textile artist India Flint in the moody bush and mist clad hills of Titirangi.  Not only has the workshop reminded me of the myriad qualities of plants that grow all around us but it has allowed me time to reflect on the year that has been and in particular the year to come.  

India's workshop so far has been an amazing and totally absorbing immersion in the world of plant dyes and eco-prints using only plants, water and heat.

The best way to describe the joy of discovering the incredible beauty that exists within the cells of plants is through the photos of the experiments that I have produced so far on the workshop with the gentle, funny and wise guidance of India.

Firstly we explore our local bioregion and put together a parcel of windfall plant treasures.  A bowl of dye is created using local plants ready for the parcels.

 

Heat is added and the parcels 'bubble and boil'...

Then the truely exciting part - the opening of the parcel and the discovery of what wonderful marks have been made on the fabric from the plant material - it's like opening up the soul of a plant and hearing its whispers...

Every piece of fabric is unique and utterly intoxicating in its beauty - i've fallen totally in love all over again with the botanical world and been given a unique opportunity to discover yet another reason why we should all adore our botanical cousins  - thank you India for such a special journey!

And they just keep getting better and better...

I can't wait to see what the remainder of the workshop will reveal.

King Fern Magic

A recent trip to Rarotonga showcased the stunning form of ferns when I discovered a valley on the cross-island walking track full of ancient king ferns.

The king fern Ptisana salicina is found throughout the South Pacific and Australia, but is in severe decline due to impacts of pigs and other introduced species which destroy the plants.

It is the most stunning plant, with fronds up to 5 m wide and tall enough to walk underneath - but it's the saucer sized unfurling fronds which captivate me.  I'll aim to try and grow one in my garden at home, just to be able to experience that beauty on a regular basis.