Illustration of the day: Cacti
Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts
Saturday, 27 August 2016
Monday, 18 July 2016
Honest Policy
On school lunch breaks, we were always sent outside, whatever the weather, to get some 'fresh air'.
In the winter, it was bitterly cold. The wind would whistle up our blue-grey tweed skirts and knees would redden, barely visible above long grey socks, pulled up as far as they would go.
A cat and mouse game ensued, between us and the teachers as we tried to get out of the cold and find a warm place inside. A group of six of us, would hide in the music rooms, until we were discovered and ejected outside again. Eventually, detentions would be issued, for the following Monday, by unsympathetic teachers, with an over inflated sense of importance.
Detention was an hour and on one occasion involved writing an essay: Honesty is the best policy. I enjoyed writing the essay, because it gave me the opportunity to admonish the staff, who in my opinion, had treated us unfairly.
I neither heard, nor do I care what they thought of the piece, or whether they even read it. Suffice to say, their lack of empathy only fuelled the rebel in me; the next time it was cold, we headed straight for the music rooms once more.
More of my illustrative work can be seen on my Instagram
Detention was an hour and on one occasion involved writing an essay: Honesty is the best policy. I enjoyed writing the essay, because it gave me the opportunity to admonish the staff, who in my opinion, had treated us unfairly.
I neither heard, nor do I care what they thought of the piece, or whether they even read it. Suffice to say, their lack of empathy only fuelled the rebel in me; the next time it was cold, we headed straight for the music rooms once more.
More of my illustrative work can be seen on my Instagram
Sunday, 17 July 2016
Flower Language
All the colourful sketches and watercolours of Zinnia I was making, were for a journal cover entitled The Language of Flowers.
The final assignment, after an inspiring, five month long, bootcamp given by Lilla Rogers of MATS
These and more flowers and plants can be found on my Instagram as part of the #100dayproject. Tag: #100daysflowersandplants
Thursday, 14 July 2016
Cast of Thousands
After a flower's petals have dropped, the left over seed cases and plant pods, filled with a few or with thousands of seeds, continue to make a garden interesting.
These and more flowers and plants can be found on my Instagram as part of the #100dayproject. Tag: #100daysflowersandplants
Saturday, 9 July 2016
Mini Zinnia
Tuesday, 7 June 2016
Latest nine
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Bloom Society
Hollyhocks
'... The mother loved them years ago;
Beside the fence they used to grow,
And though the garden changed each year
And certain blooms would disappear
To give their places in the ground
To something new that mother found,
Some pretty bloom or rosebush rare—
The hollyhocks were always there. ...'
Beside the fence they used to grow,
And though the garden changed each year
And certain blooms would disappear
To give their places in the ground
To something new that mother found,
Some pretty bloom or rosebush rare—
The hollyhocks were always there. ...'
- Edgar A Guest
Alcea, commonly known as hollyhocks, is a genus of about 60 species of
flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae. They are native to Asia and Europe.
For prints (watermarkless!): Here
Illustration: ©Alison Day Designs
Verse via: All Poetry
Monday, 11 March 2013
Pyramid Hacienda
Continuing with the Vertical Gardens theme I champion, I found this rather ingenious design for one that not only maximizes space, but is quite attractive too. Featured by Green Renaissance, its construction looks a relatively easy design to replicate if you are handy (and so inclined).
A wall brightening and more organically shaped solution is the pot tree, where pots can be interchanged, as well as reorganized to get the desired effect.
The lettuce wall, however, I think is ingeniously simple. It is a good use of vertical space in order to grow ecologically friendly and pesticide free crops, hands stay clean, and it serves as a decorative divider in the planning of a landscaped garden.
If you want a bit of inspiration when it comes to construction, take a look at the Florafelt growers from Plants on Walls - they are created using recycled plastic bottles and an indestructible nylon non-toxic fibre. Once the plants have 'settled in', the effect is amazing!
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Bosco Verticale
Continuing in the interests of the environment, health and sanity of people, and a favourite topic of mine - vertical agriculture.
Architects in Milan are tackling the concrete jungle by replenishing the greenery to our increasingly grey cities and modern lifestyles. The project is known as 'Bosco Verticale' (Vertical Forest) and involves incorporating 900 trees, 5,000 bushes and 11,000 plants across the balconies of two towers in the centre of Milan and includes a built-in watering system. The hope is that this will boost Oxygen levels, reduce CO2 and noise pollution.
Monday, 23 April 2012
Monday, 14 June 2010
Vertical Gardens
With the ever-diminishing urban space, created by an ever-increasing world population's demand for more living space, plus the already sprawling cities, space is at a premium often leaving little room for the inclusion of a reasonable amount of greenery. For those fortunate enough to have a garden this is not such a problem, but for those with little space or any kind of garden area to speak of, vertical gardens could be an interesting proposition.
Being myself the proud owner of one such pocket-sized space in the form of a balcony, I am well aware of the limitations when it comes to planning one’s greenery for the summer. What to choose, flowers or edibles or a mixture of both? It only takes a few strategically placed terracotta pots and the space is full, leaving only enough room for a small table and a couple of chairs.
So, why not plant upwards, vertical space is plentiful? In doing so, a living wall can also transform the whole side of an ugly concreted and blokish building just by the use of greenery. This is a visually more pleasing picture to the eye and is environmentally friendly too. Possible on any type of wall this can be applied not only to the outside but also the inside of buildings as well. For example to residential courtyards, shopping malls, businesses - just about anywhere with a wall and access to a water supply.
As far as setting up goes, using soil is optional and plants don’t mind growing vertically without it, as long as the all important irrigation system is in place. Plants used are dependant on what is seasonal and available in the area. This is according to the findings of Patrick Blanc, a Frenchman and artistic pioneer in this field.
The increase of green areas within the urban grey, are important not only environmentally, but as people friendly spaces inviting people to linger a while. In this day and age we need more places where it is possible to pause for thought, away from our frantic lifestyles and soaring stress levels, and what could be better than being surrounded by vertical gardens.
Back to my balcony, so how does one realize a vertical garden on a postage stamp? Easy! No, it’s not the trellis/plant rack option. Take an old bookcase; lay it flat on the ground and drill holes in it so that a hosepipe can be threaded from top to bottom in and out of all the compartments. Puncture the hosepipe at intervals to ensure that every compartment will be irrigated. (It would be at this point if I was on the craft section of Blue Peter, a children’s TV programme in the UK, I might say ‘and here’s one I made earlier’, but I digress…) Fill all the compartments with soil and then cover the whole thing with a hessian sheet or sturdy gauze and staple round the sides. Lift up the bookcase to an upright position. Make holes in the hessian at intervals, and now you’re ready to plant plant away in abundance!
As a thing of the future, vertical gardens (also known as sky farming), could provide city inhabitants with a source of fresh herbs and vegetables in limited space, although levels of pollution in some cities might be a cause for concern. As for me, although I like the idea, right now I don’t have a spare bookcase kicking around to give this idea a whirl, and storing one’s books in terracotta pots just to realize this project, just wouldn’t look quite right.
First published in
the Connections magazine #24 Summer
2009
View all issues of Connections HERE (editor, designer, illustrator: 2006-2013)
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