Are we there yet?

At last the remaining garden guest has arrived and is in his position and the scene is set
for The Hare in the Garden

Puppy sleeps

Hare slides in

Creeps warily …

and relaxes in peace

The tale of the finishing

No space too small …that it can’t be filled up a little more.

A wander round the nooks, corners and edges

This is a hop, skip and jump journey finishing off and trimming up the outer ledges.  First of all I spent the best part of a week trying to get the backdrop A4 sheets sealed, carefully aligned and all the edges made level wherever possible.  It still ended up slightly ‘off’ the preferred alignment – hey ho.

Street scene in place

Some collage added

Extra filler for clouds

Big tree in the way

Moved too much?

Fluffy tree added

The rubberised horse hair tree in the alleyway was ‘planted’ as a linking step from the 2D of the artist’s fluffy tree images to the 3D scene.

and a stream has also been added in alleyway space

Then carefully covered every edge I could find

Wrapping it up like a Christmas box

The artist’s imagained village drops off at both left and right back edges of the backdrop so to help to bring some continuity there I printed out sections, from earlier photos, of the different sorts of stonework used on the walls of the cottage.

Prints of stonework used

Roses, ivy and bird

The hidden bird

Side view of wall

The roses used came as a kindly included freebie with an order and they’ve found a home extending the floral decoration on the end building at the left corner.  I’ve added a very short wall attached to the end of the cut off cottage and put the rough stonework paper on the wall behind the roses.  The side view of the wall shows the beginning of a Victorian style scrapbook look I’m giving to the back face of the wall of the box, using other offcuts of the bits of the background image that we can’t see – mostly foreground and stream.

While I was at work at this end of the box, I added smoke to the cottage chimney, sort of over-egged the plant making putting Auricula under the back window, and made a string snail.

Sheep wool curling upwards

Auricula kit

Auricula added

and a scrappy snail

The snail has since been tidied up a wee bit and looks fairly happy in its flower pot.

Then I continued with wrapping up the back and doing a Victorian scrapbook look with more bits lying around from previous attempts to print the main backdrop.

The back face

Used a smaller, mirrored version of the front picture and letting it overflow the stonework frame at the bottom with some added grass here and there, gives that back face a bit of character as though we’re viewing it while leaving.

Water flowing at every corner

Smaller mirrored version of main backdrop

Finally remembered to add the Hare and a friendly bird behind her on the ladder

On the long ignored right side wall and ledge

A big blank brick space

Ignored this for as long as possible because it was boring and narrow.
Added a brick buttress shape to break it up a little, shading all over the brickwork and then tried out one of these fabric leaf streamers that seem to be around in all scales – including full sized.
As part of the experiment I had been going to add some shading to the leaves but decided the shine on the fabric leaves gives hints of other colours by itself

Built up a papier maché low bank at ground level, sloping into the drainage stream behind that bit of walling on the right, plus rocks and some very mixed vegetation which spreads more or less subtly round to the front edge of the greenhouse and in various ledges higher up on the wall.

And then more birds arrived …

Blue bird clashing with its surroundings

Food for all

Awaiting his turn

Nestling in the tree, checking on scene below

Managed some sort of view up the village street

Looks like auditioning for
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

while you can quietly read a little something in the late summer evening – before the Hare arrives

And today the little dog … now I think we’re there.

 

 

 

Plant kit day

Finished 2nd climbing hydrangea kit and set it on the right bending towards the first as an open, inviting arch

Glue planted at foot of greenhouse, with some of tall ends secured in the lace ironwork

I’m not a petunia planter myself, but they make a fair old display in a small space

Youv’e got to have a bird sitting on a watering can

Also completed the central petunia planting with variagated blooms

A very petunia moment

All plant kits used are from The Miniature Garden Kit site or from the same seller but via Etsy.

Am now working on a ivy-leafed geranium kit in red for some wall-mounted pots and I think I’ve still got one further one after that to go in at the front edge of the raised bed.

Chaos and colour

Got the mix and match done
Now needs some grass and a better path perhaps

It does look more than a little clashing and chaotic

All the wrong leaves

Not a Maple tree

Been taking time to decide what exactly I wanted the other climbing Hydrangea kit to do for the scene so inbetween, I turned to some Maple leaves I’d bought.  Original plan has been to make a large tree at the back overhanging the greenhouse.  Scrapped that in favour or roses, roses everywhere and then wondered if the leaves would do for a faux Virginia Creeper as they are more or less the same colouring and there’s a particularly blank wall that could do with added warmth.  The main drawback to the idea is that Maple is more or less a three in one shape (same family as Sycamore) but VC’s name is Parthenocissus Quinquefolia (five leaved ivy) making it look a little bit like a Horse Chestnut but with a fewer fingered leaf.

We now suspend all rational belief re which plant is which and throw in some greenery I’ve had lying around for some years. Mostly European Holly with the odd ivy leaf that’s fallen off somewhere else and added to give variety and green contrast to all that autumnal colouring.

Still in the middle of the job, altering as I go along but here’s a couple of pics of workings so far.

Lengths of dried twig and grasses as branches with some wool for the little ones

all lending a little colour and friendly growth around the corner from the garden

I’ve slashed the larger Maple leaves to make it at least three fingered and rolled both small and large around a toothpick to give them a drooping hang when glued in place, giving a Dolly Mixture look to the wall.