Contents
Gardening R&R
The elements which work together to make a "good"
painting, or any artwork for that matter are the same elements which gardeners
use.
Any art teacher will tell you of the symbolic importance of: line, tone, texture, colour; and how these elements evoke emotional responses in the human psyche.
For example: Line can produce predicted emotional responses. Strong verticals, like rows of tall trees, especially those like Cypresses or some Poplars cause the viewer to look skywards. Early architects of churches used this knowledge and replaced the tall repetitive rows of tree trunks with stone columns, which not only supported the roof, but also caused the viewer to look up. This action reinforced the elevated position of the Almighty and the appropriate insignificance of the worshipper.
Sharp diagonals often produce feelings of unease and soft flowing lines
engender feelings of comfort and pleasure. Colour is well known for its
symbolic significance. Reds and oranges are linked to notions of warmth
while blues evoke notions of coolness.
In the garden, these elements are often used intuitively by many gardeners without any conscious effort to manipulate human emotions. Yet most gardeners will readily admit that human emotion and gardening go hand in hand. The word "love" is often on the gardener's lips. The clearly expressed pleasurable affection for a particular tree, shrub or blossom are often shared in nurseries. Sour faced gardeners (though I am sure they do exist) are thankfully, rare.
The garden, as an emotional space, is full of signs and symbols of human sentiment and these include the non-growing, like a particularly beautiful rock, a special pot or a sensitively placed statue. These are objects which must be carefully selected for the meaning they project and how they reflect us in our gardens. Many a dull garden corner has been transformed by a beautiful bird-bath, or a mischievous imp.
Monica, at the Leura Garden Centre, Verity at Katoomba Garden Centre and we at Gaibors, Wentworth Falls, have collectively a large and diverse range of garden statuary, fountains, columns and ornament in all sizes which might just enrich your artistic enjoyment of your garden.
To contact the Village Views, send us an e-mail to: bmvv@hermes.net.au