A couple of pics

Your artwork is amazing Janey, very impressive! You deserved to win prizes :-)))

Brilliant news about gaining more garden, exciting, yes, keep us up to date. New baby next year too, its all good.

Wow Janey, thats great. You'll get a bit more garden! You could have lots of fun with that. Your paintings are lovely. The still life is my favourite. What medium did you use?

Thanks Dawn and Karen, its only a small piece and walled off, but will have to see what happens.

Its a water colour class and I do enjoy it, the only thing that keeps me totally focused. We've been studying Burne Jones, which is the Sleeping Beauty one, a bit dark but interesting.

I can't believe Rosa is 6 months already, I think they're still in a state of shock too!....:))

Love your paintings,Janey,and well done on winning a first and a third..well deserved too..What a surprise about your extra bit of garden..that will give you something to plan over the winter..and to be looking forward to your new Grandchild too in the New Year..:o) x

Wow!! Brilliant paintings Janey,clever you, agree well deserved .
Exciting to have a new bit of garden and grandchild lovely :-)

Thanks girls! You should Meadowland, and now it's the depths of winter, I'm going to try some bright and colourful ones....:)).

The piece of land is behind my 10ft old brick wall on the left side of the garden. I remember a few years ago when we cleared some creepers from it, there was the shape of a door in the bricks. It's been used by the cottage next door for at least 100 years! The mystery deepens, I could have my own secret garden...lol!

lol...you really could! Somewhere to keep chickens Janey? If you can make that doorway in...or you could sell it to the neighbour who's using it and treat yourself to something nice....a plane ticket to Sydney!

Congratulations on the prizes, Janey, well deserved. You really have talent! I love the Burne Jones . . . that fabric is just amazing.

Lovely news too about an extra bit of garden - something to have fun with :))

Congratulations Janey , I am not an artist by any means but do see how good your artwork is, wow fancy finding out the garden is yours really, hope it gets resolved amicably by all concerned, it must have been a shock to some people though especially after all those years....

You got my vote, Janey! Exquisite work!

I think the sound of your second idea is better Karen.....the least hassle anyway.... :))

Thank you very much Sheila! I really enjoyed doing them....hey I could erect my own painting shack in the new garden!

Thanks Lincs! I've a new young neighbour whose only been in a week and the garden has been left for a long time. Behind the wall it is a tangle of briars, clematis and honeysuckle.....

Cheers Bath....:))

Love your paintings and it was fascinating to read about your 'Secret Garden.'

Please let us know what happens next.

You thoroughly deserved those prizes, Janey! I couldn't paint or draw anything even if my life depended on it! They say "Practise makes perfect" but whoever coined that phrase never met me! My grandson of 4 has asked me on several occasions to draw Daleks & Cybermen from Dr Who for him - every time I try they just get worse with every attempt! It amazes me how badly they come out!

You are lucky to have discovered an extra bit of garden! As you say you could have a secret garden in there - once the brambles, etc, are cleared out!

Looking forward to reading more about the outcome.

Great paintings Janey. You are very talented.

How nice to have an extra bit of land. I hope it is given back to you :)

Thanks very much Wildrose! I'm quite excited about the little garden, I'll know more tomorrow about the options.

Aw thanks Balc....I do love doing it more than I thought I would! I can imagine having to draw Dr Who baddies would faze me too, but I bet your grandson loves what you do, they'll be really special....Granddads paintings...:)).

Pleased you like them Hywel!

Yes I would like to have it only it'll cost quite a bit to remove the piece of wall so I can enclose the area in my garden....I'd have to build a 9ft wall right round it too.

So presumably that means that one wall would bacve north - already planted in my mind with a morello cherry and a rose that's happy on a north wall....

Congrats on the paintings, you obviously have a talent, I love them both...
How exciting to find you have some extra garden, well a secret garden perhaps?

Stera, it would be south facing and a real sun trap.....morello cherry sounds lovely though.

Thanks Dd...:)). Yes, Ian would've loved tackling the piece of garden, he was great at walling etc....

It's not as straight forward as I imagined then :(

Janey how exciting on both counts ,congratulations you deserved those prizes you are very talented look at the folds in the reclining ladies material that takes some doing very clever .. I've always fancied a secret garden hidden from the rest of the world I can't wait to see what you do with it , I'm wondering what does the person who has been using it has to say about it , it's not the pub is it ... x

Not sure a Morello would do well on a south wall Janey- plenty of scope for something better there! Quite forgot to add how impressive your art is! Its a real gift quite out of reach for folk like me.

I shall know tomorrow Hywel.....

Aww thanks Amy, that's Sleeping Beauty....from the early 1900s.
The cottage has just sold Amy and that's why it's been found through the Land Registry. No, the other side, not the pub, Ian would have loved it as a project....dontbth k I can actually tackle the enclosing of it which would mean having Walls built with old bricks.....

Pleased you like my pics Stera, I must admit I do love getting lost in them....:))

love the paintings Janey. the door in the wall is interesting. i wonder why it was bricked up... exciting time with a grandchild on the way too

Congratulation Janey, Well deserved prizes for your lovely paintings and the extention of your garden is great news. Lots to think about.

Thank you both Sandra and Klahanie.....:))

Janey, she does look like a Burne Jones. I thought of him right away Excellent. I like your style, and you certainly have mastered that medium, the hardest, I think. But what a wonderful one. I am an artist, very abstract after many years and many classes. Keep painting, as we know, gardening is another kind of painting...

Thank you very much Posy....I do love it, especially using a fine brush, painting detail......totally not what our art teacher really favours....lol! I bet you are very free flowing and spontaneous! One of our wedding gifts in the early 70s was a panel of a Burne Jones, so to have a go at one of my own after all these years was a real treat.... The Art Nouveau period is one of my favourites...

You should come to the Clark museum in Williamtown to see lots of these.
take a look on the web...

I will, thanks for that. I've just finished another which is my own take on this style.....quite pleased with it! It is very therapeutic isn't it, how fast these dark winter hours go....:))

An update on the secret garden saga! I agreed to sell it after all, paperwork all sorted at last.....:))