Monday 18th August at Dumfries House

This morning I made the most of the bright weather and visited the Walled Gardens where there was a wonderful selection of plants, fruits, vegetables and flowers. The colours were a feast for my eyes.

The Walled Garden was opened this year in July by the Queen, and part of it is called the Queen Elizabeth Garden.

The buildings around the Walled Garden are really quaint and add interest to the landscape.

In the afternoon Nikki, David and I walked to Auchinleck, and explored the Temple that lies within the Estate.

Apparently it was built at the same time as Dumfries House, but looks rather a lot older! 

The nearby farm is owned by Morrisons, and so all the cows in the local fields belong to Morrisons. They were in full voice today!

I have been doing some rather painstaking drawing today, which has been very time consuming.

I did another collage based on the pattern of the ceiling in the Pewter corridor using a range of  patterns from the insides of envelopes.

From this, I then did a drawing, replacing all the printed lines with drawn lines. 

I'm not very pleased with the result of this drawing, but am interested in making something combining the envelope patterns with the patterns from within the House. I am fascinated by the use of the i-mats used within the House to protect the carpets and to replicate the tapestries whilst they are being restored, and would like to comment on this kind of overlaying process.

Therefore, the next drawing I did was to draw directly onto the envelope, following the same design, but drawing in the shape of one of the elements of the pattern on the ceiling in the Pewter corridor. 

I'm happier with this result, but need to think about how I can take the drawing to another level as it still seems very sketch-like at the moment.