While waiting for a glacially-slow backup to run – my other life is as a designer – I seek entertainment in the garden and there it is, in tulip form.
The parrot tulips show their stripes early. I had drawn smart green buds a week ago, presenting themselves like two-tone ties. Now, they’re all showy Victorian fairground colours of cream, lemon and red.
Then there are tulips in sweet shop pink with a soft parma violet mauve running down the centre.
And the gorilla? Well, these, bulbs bought purely for the silliness of their name, continue to make me giggle as they come out, flower fronds escaping from the first bud, ready to burst forth when the Spring sun returns.
This week I’ve been working on tiny scraps of waste board, cut down from an old postcard print run. They’re well-behaved for colour and take their backgrounds of natural ink nicely.
Thank you, garden, for the good cheer, even as Winter makes a shivery return visit.
Ballpen, natural ink, watercolour and fineliner on waste paper.
Rose sketches from this project are now available as greeting cards, from the Garden Museum shop in London, at Hackney Wick Underground and on my Etsy shop.
New on my Teemill shop: my new rose collection of t-shirts and tote bags.