Garden Art???

A lot of people ask me what does a landscape designer do in the winter? My response is usually a lot of planning for the spring. My planning is mostly consumed as the co-owner and not as the designer. I prefer spending time working on designs, so we are ready for the hectic spring. Next week I will feature a pool project. Check in. This is a must see project. We actually started the design process in the fall of ’07 and had them swimmer for the summer of ’08. It is never to early to start planning.

This winter has been a little different. I spent the last couple weeks painting a mural in my basement. I love to put a creative touch to almost everything I do. I designed the layout of my basement and some day will post that as well. I have always been intrigued by painting and never made the time to take it up as a hobby. This was my first painting and I found it very interesting to learn how the different paints respond to different brushes. The mural is in my kids play room which will most likely turn into something else some day.

Spending years coloring drawings, I natural was drawn to a landscape scene. I love the sense of age stone walls bring to the landscape. The containers sitting in the window sills show someone has taken ownership of this old stone ruin. Leaving the grasses to grow in front of the wall is demonstrating design constraint. The simplicity of the nature allows the wall to speak for itself. As designers, we often fail by trying to add vs. letting along. We need to ask ourselves are we really enhancing the view, the space, or the function by adding more.

I’m not sure when or if I will ever do another painting like this. I guess time will tell. I’m sure I will continually make touch ups or improvement as time passes. Maybe I’ll follow my own advise and let alone what is already finished…