chriswoodartist

my neighbours red hot pokers – a story without end !

As an artist, I am inspired by nature, the weather, the seasons, the relentless cycle of CHANGE and over the last couple of years I have created a body of work exploring my tiny Southsea garden. Sometimes I get distracted by what is growing in my neighbours gardens and I peer over the garden wall to document their contribution to my daily ritual too.

For the last week or so I have been fascinated by a family of plants that have popped up on the other side of the boundary wall. It was a pleasant surprise to see not one or two new plants but a group of about six spectacular red hot pokers. The view over the wall always provides plenty of inspiration as looking down the terrace there are a number of mature trees and a group of very large, very spiky Yuccas. I am currently using two sketchbooks, a modest 6” (15cm) square one and a rectangular 12”x9” one which gives me the freedom to use it either portrait or landscape format.

More often than not I capture the scene in front of me in a traditional way using a familiar palette of realistic colours. The compositions are usually documentary, whereas occasionally I like to get creative and put a spin on things and above is one such experiment, using contrasting warm and cold colours. There is also a conceptual side to this with a nod to the name “red hot pokers” by making them stand out from the cold blue background.

This is the third red hot poker study and following on from the reduced blue and red pallets, here is the reverse, with a red background and blue red hot pokers !

in this rather washed out looking image (work in progress) I just wanted to capture the floppy dehydrated form of the plant in the middle.
in this rather washed out looking image (work in progress) I just wanted to capture the floppy dehydrated form of the plant in the middle.

I suspect my neighbour has watered his garden as the floppy individual seems to be feeling a little perkier ! I should add that since I started this collection of Poker Paintings there has been a heatwave. Yesterday the temperature in the shade was 30Degrees C ! So plenty of water is required for plants and their owners.