I am seeing…… Must take this opportunity to say that TV is the ruination of society, throw it away – you will have better relationships.  TED talks are my favorite research media at the moment. Check this video out!

I am reading…… Eat,Pray,Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  It s beautiful, reminded me of my time in India and it also reminded me to just ask the Universe for help instead of trying to do it all on your own.  It works you know ; )

I am visiting…… I saw Grayson Perry exhibition at the British Museum.  I really loved it, brilliant demonstration of what inspires and artist and how that can manifest.  I enjoyed his playfulness, a pleasant release…  I can be too intense about my topics for my work. 

Very excited about seeing Picasso and David Hockney!

I am thinking about….. The Sketchbook Project

My chosen theme is Time & Distance,  I am doing a journey from home on the 188 bus to the British Museum (a bit Perry inspired) it is studies of people and artifacts and photographic record of the roads.  It s an exploration of reincarnated souls I think….

I am cooking…… Oh, I am not really I am living off soup, Cynthia’s rice & peas and Berroca vitamins! – I am usually better than this but just need things to warm up a bit so I can feel inspired again.

I am hearing…… My brother had a sort out in my parents roof and gave me my old cassette tapes – when I am driving I am enjoying the Scorpions and Judas Priest!!!! – I was a rebel lol!! As I type I am listening to Cat Stevens…. (retired rebel)

I am making…… Andrea http://www.artinthepark.co.uk/andrea-sinclair.html and I are making tiles for the Art in the Park bathroom.  I love working with other artists, it gets lonely working on your own all the time…. ahhhhhh………… he he ; ) tough life!

Oh it has been a lovely, sunny start to the week. Let’s hope it stays that way! Take advantage of the weather with another list of things to make and do over the next seven days.

Once again, we have a great selection of courses and workshops running throughout the week at Art in the Park. Tonight Bill Hudson will be teaching an introduction to woodcarving (or if you have already been introduced to woodcarving, come along to the workshop to use our space and equipment for your own projects). If you miss the class on Monday, Bill will be teaching woodwork this Saturday as well. Thursday afternoons and evenings are all about pottery! Leyla Folwell will be running pottery classes for both children and adults in the evening and afternoon. Find out more about all the courses and workshops running at Art in the Park over the coming weeks and months here.

Don’t forget Shrove Tuesday tomorrow! Why not celebrate by watching (or taking part in!) a traditional pancake race? For wherever you are, check out Time Out’s list of pancake races happening all over London. And how about getting creative with pancakes? Looks almost too good to eat.

It’s the last week to catch the Grayson Perry exhibition at the British Museum, a really playful and inspiring exhibit.

With the sun shining, what better time for a giant egg hunt around London! Solve a series of clues to discover over 200 ceramic eggs painted by artists and designs are displayed all around London. Sounds like great fun!

Get ready for spring with some hanging garden planters. Don’t they look lovely?

Whatever you do this week, have a lovely one. And enjoy the sun while it’s here!

Monday 6th February was the culmination of our third corner, West Africa. We held a very lively lunch party with West African food made by members of the group, an exhibition of some of their work and West African music and dancing.

It was a great event, and all the group made very strong art works and also cooked some delicious and healthy West African food.

4 Corners continues each Monday, and the next corner of the world we will be exploring will be British art!

So……what are you doing this week?

We have lots on a Art in the Park over the next seven days. Our 2012 timetable of workshops continues this week. Pop in on Monday for woodcarving with Bill Hudson, or start a two day woodworking course on Saturday. Thursdays is pottery with Leyla Folwell, open to beginners or advanced potters! Leyla will also be running a bowl or plate making and decorating workshop on Saturday. Get creative this week!

There are some great exhibitions on in London this week.

A new David Shrigely exhibition is running at the Hayward and Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition at the Tate Modern has just opened.

If you haven’t seen it yet you must check out the Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Natural History Museum – running until the 11th of March 2012. So many stunning and breathtaking photographs of animals and the natural world.

Taking Flight by Paul Goldstein

It’s half term this week so here are some great crafty projects to do with children – (or still great to do without children!)

Make some friendship bracelets!

Oh, what a pretty way to make words and letters out of yarn.

Yarn Love by Bloesem Kids

And it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow! – get in the mood for love with some crafty, hearty projects.

Make a a quick and easy heart banner to decorate the house. A great way to use up old paint samples.

Update an old jumper with some pretty heart patches!

Heart Elbow Patch by honestlywtf.com

Whatever you do this week have a lovely time!

After receiving some stunning postcards from all over the world and creating some of our own at an Art Extravaganza in October we sent all our postcards Northwards to the Outer Hebrides where they have been on display on the Isle of Saint Lewis. Now they’ve come to us, (along with some new ones!), to be displayed in our studio for the next few weeks. Afterwards, we will be sending them on in their flight across the globe until they come to roost in Uganda!

Aren’t they stunning? Pop in to the studio to take a better look!

We had some very tasty homemade cakes and treats to enjoy at the AGM and plenty of mulled wine to keep us warm!!

It was nice to reflect on the work we had done last year, and very exciting to look towards what we will be getting up to in 2012.

So thank you to everyone for all their amazing work (and their cakes)!

Our talented and friendly artists are running a wide range of courses to suit any ability. If you want to get creative or learn a new skill in 2012 this is your chance! We will be running classes in woodworking, recycled fashion, pottery, mosaics, pewter casting and life drawing.

For more information about each course, dates and to book please click here!

October 28th

Another lovely sunny gardening day although a bit soggy underfoot – temperatures are still unseasonably warm but at least we’ve had some rain this week as the soil was turning into dust.

The wisteria in the front of the studio was looking decidedly crisp due to lack of water – it’s in a pot so we gave it a good drink and mulch – it also needs careful pruning at this time of year to promote flowering buds.
(Tip for the birds – as well as remembering to put out food for them they also need water to drink and bathe in and for nest building in the spring so a bird bath is a good investment)

Its garlic planting time again – we like French Thermidour – a pink variety, try to plant garlic from good stock – a garden centre or on-line as these will be virus free and suitable for our climate. Garlic needs a long growing season and a cold spell to make the cloves divide into heads – which is why last winter made such a good crop! Plant in rows 4”(10cm) apart and 1 “(3cm) deep  and cover with soil – we can expect to be harvesting these in May or June.

We also planted some red onions – Red Baron,sets not seeds (these are small onions which swell.)Plant these in a shallow drill with their tips just showing above the soil. If you like shallots these also divide– a bit like garlic –but above the ground -so you get about 5 shallots from 1 bulb and you need a bit more growing space. We netted both of these crops at soil level –to protect against cats,mice and birds !

That’s almost the last of our gardening tasks for the year – we still have a bit of pruning to do in the garden – the apple tree,grapevine and roses need a good trim to promote flowers and fruit. Still we will have plenty of winter veg to harvest – leeks,purple sprouting broccoli,curly kale and swiss chard – to keep us interested. In the meantime we can sow broad beans and sweet peas in toilet rolls in the greenhouse ready to get a headstart when we plant them out next spring.

It is a beautiful dry,  sunny and cold autumn day – perfect for gardening. Time to catch up with some seasonal tasks!

We admired our cayenne chillies and peppers in the greenhouse – keep picking, feeding and watering these so that they ripen before first frost.

Love your soil! – it’s where all good gardening starts. With our raised bed system we have to be constantly replenishing the nutrients in the soil as we are more or less intensively farming – so as well as using the bed rotation system (that’s growing different crops in succession – not the same one in same spot year after year) – we have to add lots of organic matter and now is the best time. First of all we picked the last of our lovely pumpkins which have now ripened and should be good for storing (if we don’t eat them straight away!). Sometimes we save the seed but pumpkins are ‘promiscuous’ with their cross pollinating and we won’t always get what we expect – still if you’d like a surprise give it a go as seed is very expensive. But if you know it was an F1 variety don’t bother – it will revert back to its wild state and be bitter.

We also harvested a huge crop of Jerusalem Artichokes (otherwise known as ‘fartichokes’ for obvious reasons!). Not to everyones’ taste but good in soups and mash.

We covered the empty beds with a good mulch of home-grown compost and some horse manure and then covered them up with some horticulture membrane – this will stop weeds growing and keep the local cats and foxes off. If you’re growing brassicas now is the time to do a ph soil test  – add lime if its too acidic and don’t add manure at the same time. Most veg likes slightly acidic soil.

It’s not only the plants that are getting ready for winter – Bryan found all sorts of invertebrates getting ready to hibernate under wooden boards – snails are now laying eggs so expose them for the birds to feed on .We found a leopard print slug (rumoured to be carnivorous and eat the common slugs), large wood-lice and lots of worms – all decomposers and signs of a healthy eco-system. Autumn is the season of death and decay!!

But we can look forward to new shoots next spring by planting our garlic, onions and broad beans  which we will do next week.

16th June -
The seasons are changing! – We have left the bulbs in our containers for next year and planted up some cheerful pink and white geraniums (pelargoniums) in their place.
There seems to be a lot of windy and rainy weather forecast for this summer. If that’s the case bees and other pollinating insects won’t be flying as much and yields could go down. But did you know, you can help the plants along by hand pollinating using a paintbrush! And don’t forget to open up the doors of your greenhouse to let the insects come in and feed on the nectar (and pollinate your tomatoes and chillies at the same time).
We also had a good crop of summer fruiting raspberries which like a bit of shade.

24th June -
Its harvest time – new potatoes (Ratte, Charlotte and Anya), beetroot, spring onions, salad leaves and indoor and outdoor cucumber!
At this time of year weeding is a priority – the weeds will compete with your veggies for water and nutrients in the soil and can harbour pests and diseases – “one year weed, seven years seeds” as the saying goes. Don’t compost them if they have already produced seeds, make a weed heap – let them bake in the sun first or put them in a bucket with water, cover and use as a liquid feed!

1st July -
After the first harvest there is space to plant some more veg. Spuds make way for beans and our borlotti and purple queen are attractive and versatile. If you’re thinking of growing beans but only have a little space try vertical gardening using a wigwam of canes!
This is a good time for planting summer squash and winter pumpkin – we are growing patty pan squash, courgettes, and a mix of pumpkins including turks turban.
We harvested some rhubarb and hot radishes. Did you know you can eat the leaves of radish too or wait until they set seed and stir fry the pods!

8th July -
We have harvested our lovely morello cherries! Usually our cherries get left on the tree as nobody thinks they’re sweet enough – but they will make a great pie …..or a cherry brandy!;)
We dug up the last of the spuds and harvested herbs to hang up and dry. By now they are at there most potent, in fact traditionally they should be harvested on the Summer Solstice, June 21st.
We also harvested the last of the garlic, tied it in plaits and to hung it up to dry. If you’re thinking of growing garlic in your own veg patch don’t use garlic from the supermarket- it may harbour virus but also could have come from China and won’t be suited to growing in our climate.)

15th July -
We harvested an early crop of apples today! – fruit yields are about a month early this year due to the unseasonably hot Easter!
It’s time to plant up winter veg. We’ll be planting some leeks – to plant your own trim the roots and tips and using a dibber make a hole and drop the leek in, water it and allow the soil to naturally fill up the hole.
We also potted up our chili and pepper plants into larger containers – these will stay in the greenhouse – they will need to be well watered and fed with a high potash fertiliser (seaweed is good).

22nd July -
We had a bumper crop to harvest this week – bright lights chard (so colourful!), apples, courgettes (round, yellow and green), spring onions, more beetroot(!) and marigold flowers to eat in salad. We have some other edible flowers in the garden, nasturtiums, which have a really spicy kick – you can eat the petals, the leaves and the seeds can be pickled like capers.

12th August -
It’s been dry and windy so the plants in the veg patch need a lot of water! Some veg get especially thirsty, such as pumpkin, squash and fruit, which is why its so important to prepare the soil with lots of compost to retain the moisture – especially as the Heart gardeners only meet once a week!
It’s time now to plant out more winter veg – curly kale (green and blue).
It’s also time to make cuttings of pelargoniums to add to the stock for next year. We took a few cuttings to put in water and will watch the roots grow.
Now is the time to cut back the lavender to keep it compact. We used the collected scented heads to dry and make up lavender bags to put in our clothes drawers. (Sorry bees! – they do love the blue lavender flowers!)
We’ve also got our first crop of tomatoes from the garden (a little behind the snug greenhouse crop) – the cherry tomatoes have done well but the larger marmande and heritage ‘black’ are slower to ripen. We started cutting off the lower leaves to let the sun get to them and pinched out the tips.

2nd September -
Sebastian (my 11 year old son and a keen gardener!) brought in a penstemon plant he had grown from a cutting for Cynthia and she swapped him some collected seeds. This is great currency as gardening can be expensive but if you club together and exchange you can get a greater variety of plants and veg in your garden – we always sow too many seeds and it’s such a shame to chuck them away.
Its propagating time! So we took cuttings from our productive strawberry runners and pegged them down into small pots to make new plants (you can do this in the bed while they are still attached to the parent plant.) A walk in the park can bring all bounty of seeds (such as conkers or acorns) and you can grow your own mini woodland for free – or try bonsai!

9th September -
There have been lots of insects in the garden this summer. We had a good look at some of the pests and diseases that are affecting our brassicas – a little green caterpillar that is munching all the leaves, and the tiny white moth that produces clouds! Oh no! You can keep them away with fleece or enviromesh – meanwhile squash them, and the eggs!

16th September -
Bumper harvest time again! We picked lots of beans – young borlotti and purple queen and more mature ones to be used in soups and stews. We picked some ripe red tomatoes but noticed the wet weather has brought in blight – so I took some green tomatoes home to make chutney. The rest of the plants had to be pulled up and binned or burned – DO NOT COMPOST! We had lots of weeding and watering to do and feeding the pumpkins and brassicas with our lovely home made nitrogen rich worm juice(!)

7th October -
Despite the lovely hot Indian summer weather it is autumn, the plants know it and the veg patch is getting ready for a rest. Whilst the pumpkins are ripening in the sun we cleared the beds ready to mulch and cut down the physalis (Chinese lanterns) to decorate the studio.
We also cut down our lovely golden hop which has climbed all the way up the fig tree and hung it indoors to dry so we can make soothing hop pillows (not beer!).
The figs from our brown turkey tree are ripening and we picked a few to try.
We also made some living salads for the windowsills at home – if you would like to do the same, choose a mixed leaf variety and sow it into shallow trays (we used recycled food trays.) Keep it well watered, in good light and in a few weeks time you can pick fresh salad leaves for the price of a packet of seeds!

14th October -
We keep dead-heading the geraniums and pansies in the planters out the front of the studio to extend the season. The flowers are still showy and will last until first frost, then our daffodils and tulips will spring up from last year.
We planted up our polanter – our experiment in vertical gardening- and attached it into the wall by the studio entrance.
The weather is sunny but chilly as it should be for autumn but we can still admire our hard work sowing seeds that is paying off now with our lovely display of blue morning glory (ipomea) snaking up the wigwam by the sheds.

I hope you enjoyed our Heart Garden Summer diary!