The Garden Musings Project is an open invitation to look more closely and broadly at our backyards, front yards and neighborhoods. Each week we’ll send three prompts focused around a theme – color, texture, lines, interaction to name a few. These prompts will include ideas to guide a musing or conversation between you and your nearby outdoor spaces. Try each of the exercises, or stick with one that evolves into a regular practice.
Every few weeks, we’ll have a live-stream conversation (via Zoom) to share our experiences, and to chat with artists, educators, writers, poets and gardeners from New Mexico and a far about their own practices observing and interacting with their gardens, landscapes and other natures around them.
Ways to Join: Participate at any level in the project is welcome. Try the weekly musings as they come up in your social media feeds. Sign-up for the project emails below to receive the weekly musings in your inbox, as well as the information for the group gatherings via Zoom through the registration list.
Register for the project emails here >
Color Study: Claire LaRose, Santa Fe Botanical Garden Volunteer Coordinator
Muse No. 1: Earth Day Garden Musings, April 22, 2020
Inspired by Lorene Edwards Forkner, a Seattle Based garden writer and artist, we’re kicking off the Garden Musings Project with a practice of looking closely at the colors in the garden. Lorene calls her practice “Seeing Color in the Garden”. Check out ahandmadegarden.com or follow @gardenercook on Instagram.
Instructions: Look for an object in the garden – a small set of leaves (new or dried from last year), a bud and bloom, a stone, etc. Settle in with it, observe and try to draw out 9 colors from the object. If you have them, use watercolors or pencils to mix the 9 color palette. If you don’t have paints, think about photographs, words, or other ways to articulate what you see. Feel free to take a photo and share on social media using the hashtag #gardenmusings.
Cost: FREE (space limited, donations welcome)
