Summer in the Courtyard:

 The large variety Clematis are on their second blush. It is August in the walled courtyard.  The sun has warmed the walls, even the bees are drunk on the softness of the air.

Well, back to reality  ..... another wall has its vine completed!

This is the corner where the steamer chair will recline. I bought an appropriate sized leaf  to replicate clematis foliage. I used portions of an ivy leaf vine that I also used for the hydrangea petiolaris on the utility wall. The stem and a base for applying foliage was glued into position and trimmed pieces of the foliage applied to that.  You can see pieces of foliage cut ready to be glued onto the base.

You can also see two yogurt container lids. I use my collection of lids to contain projects under way. The lids also serve as a convenient place to mix paints and put dots of glue. I usually wash the lids when I am finished and reuse them.

These plastic flowers were a good start for the clematis. To help them look more dimensional I filled the centres with puffy paint and tinted them yellow - also trimmed the plastic ends of each petal and cut little shapes into the centre crown before painting the markings on the petals.  This really helped make the flowers look more interesting.

Of course you need a few different sizes and buds so I painted watercolour paper pink, then used a star punch to make buds.

The large size clematis buds rise on longish stems before opening wide making the stem less noticeable. I put the buds on fine green wire and painted a little yellow onto the loop I formed at the top of the wire.
I cut each arm of the star almost to the centre where I had made a hole with a heavy needle.
I pressed each petal to create shape before manipulating it into a bud form.
The watercolour paint always shows darker when it is wet.

Below you can see I have applied the flowers and buds to the vine. In August the clematis has a second flush of flowers that do not cover the vine as it does earlier in the spring.

Roses Progress....none!

I imagined I would do the climbing rose on the house first but I still have not worked out how to do the foliage satisfactorily. I do not aim for a duplicate only a miniature representation of the "thing" but it will come to me soon I am sure.

In the meantime a trellis and planter box needed to be made for the rose bush. Here is the Versailles planter box. It is made with basswood, the little decorative balls are held in place with pins while the glue dries.

I also had to change the configuration of the gravel path to fit the box in properly beside the door.

While I continue to think about rose foliage I found some very nice textured beads, in my collection, of suitable size to add a bit of decoration to the walls.

I had only the amount I needed. They are now mounted on bass wood plinths and have yet to have the holes filled before being painted.  I never imagined that I could ever use these beads. Miniaturists - you must never throw anything away!!!

It was foggy today but earlier this week we had one perfect sunny day. The photo below was taken a few minutes before sunrise. You may notice the ice slush on the edge of the water.

 This was a few minutes later as the brightness of the rising sun washed out the colour in the sky.

I think we take a photo of of this view, in its many variations, almost every day.

Have a great week.

Regards Janine